Rose Tattoo
by Iolanthe Ivashkov
Summary: Rose, instead of being the untrained novice, is a skilled strigoi killer with the darkness aiding her. Only if she doesn't use it, it just might drive her and Lissa crazy. (Follows storyline of original books) Romitri "I have several of Molnija marks and, due to Lissa's insistence, I now also sport a large collection of entwined, thorned roses down the right side of my body."
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.**

 **Let me know what you think!**

 **Chapter One**

I felt her terror before I heard her screams.

Her nightmare pulsed into my own head, shaking me out of my dream, which had had something to do with a club, the perfect black cocktail dress and a hot guy dancing with me. Images—hers, definitely not mine— violently tore through my mind: the twisted metal that was once a car, a blazing fire and the bloody faces of Lissa's family. The pictures invaded my mind, suffocating me, until some part of my brain reminded me that this wasn't my dream. It was a pity considering it was the first night in quite some time I wasn't faced with nightmares of my own.

I woke up with a few strands of my long, dark hair sticking to my sweaty forehead while the rest of it created something along the lines of a ratty birds nest. However Lissa still lay in her bed, thrashing and screaming, getting more tangled in her plain white sheets. I quickly jumped out of mine and crossed the small distance that separated our beds in our current home, sitting down next to her gently.

"Liss," I said, shaking her. "Liss, honey, wake up. It's just a dream."

Her screams dropped off, replaced by soft whimpers. "Andre," she whimpered."Oh Lord."

"Come on, Liss. Wake up."

After a few moments, her eyes fluttered open, and in the dim lighting, I could see a flicker of consciousness start to take over. Her frantic breathing slowed, and she leans into me as I helped her sit up. I put an arm around her and ran a hand over her damp forehead, wiping away the sweat before tackling the tears on her cheeks.

"It's okay," I told her gently. "Everything's okay."

"I had that dream."

"Yeah. I know."

We sat like that for several minutes, not breathing a word. When I finally felt her emotions calm down a bit, I leaned over to the nightstand between our beds – trying not to jostle her too much – and turned on the light. It glowed a slightly dim yellow, but neither of us really needed it much to see by. It was more for comfort. But with the new light to see by I noticed how pale her skin was, whiter than it should be even for a Moroi and my panic began to rise again. Dark circles also decorated the area around her eyes and her face hollowed out, giving her the air of fragility.

"When did we last do a feeding?" I asked, studying her face. I couldn't remember the last time I'd given her blood. "It's been…more than two days, hasn't it?"

She shrugged and wouldn't meet my eyes, focusing on the sheets now piled at the bottom of the bed. "You were busy. I didn't want to—"

"Screw that," I said, shifting into a better position on the bed. No wonder she seemed so weak. "Come on. Let's get this over with."

"Rose—"

"Come on. It'll make you feel better. Just watch out for the new tattoos."

"I could heal them."

"And I've told you before, I can deal with it. You need your strength."

I tilted my head and tossed my hair back, baring my neck. I saw her hesitate, but the need for blood soon overpowered her. A hungry expression crossed her face, her lips parting slightly and exposing the fangs she normally kept hidden while we were living among humans. Luckily she was careful with the new tattoos and braced her hands on my arms and not my back.

I have several of them now, starting off with only a few Molnija marks on my neck only to add more as time progressed in the outside world. Due to Lissa's insistence of the "cool and totally you" tattoo, I now also sported a large collection of entwined, thorned roses down the right side of my body. I liked how it took some of the emphasis of the smaller designs which, from time to time, I felt ashamed of. After all, the strigoi had still once been people, only now I thought of these marks as honouring the people that once where rather than trophies or brands of worth.

The only reason I was alive at all and had gotten my first kill mark though was because of Lissa's darkness which I had began to take almost automatically after I was healed in the car crash and the bond was created. The panic and anger I had felt at the moment I thought I had failed her and that monster was about to drink her dry had caused the darkness to take over, leaving me livid. My speed and strength became so enhanced that it was almost easy to take out the strigoi with one of the stakes I had stolen before leaving the academy. It was from then on I used the darkness, but never depended on it to get me out of trouble, training as hard as I could. After a few more times of surprise attacks I even decided to go out looking for them, with Lissa in a protected and very hidden place of course, to clear out the strigoi in the immediate area just to be safe. It was always hard but it was worth it – we were hardly ever surprised after that, and the injuries Lissa would heal for me became less and less. It also helped get rid of the darkness from within both of us.

Her fangs bit into me, hard, and I was shaken out of my thoughts of the past. Then it faded, replaced by a wonderful joy that spread throughout my body that I always loathed once the act was over. It was better than any of the times I'd been drunk or high. Better than sex—or so I imagined, since I'd never actually done it. It was a blanket of pure, refined pleasure, wrapping me up and promising everything would be right in the world. On and on it went until I lost track of the concept of time and the world around me, lost track of who I was and what I had done.

Then, regretfully, it was over.

She pulled back, wiping her hand across her lips as she studied me. "You okay?"

"I…yeah."I lay back on the bed, dizzy from the blood loss. "I just need to sleep it off. I'm fine." And I would be. I'd had worse and she knew it. She just doesn't like it when I was in pain.

Even after telling her I was fine, her pale, jade-green eyes still watched me with concern. She stood up suddenly, blurring a little in my vision. "I'm going to get you something to eat as I know you won't let me heal you."

I didn't bother to protest, her bite had lessened as soon as she broke the connection, but some of its effects still lingered in my veins causing me to smile goofily. Turning my head, I glanced up at the window and wriggled deeper into the bed only to be disturbed by a feeling in my stomach. It wasn't the same nausea that came with the close proximity of strigoi, but it spelled danger just the same. When the darkness warned me of something, I had learnt to listen to it.

My smile faded, and I forced myself to sit up, needing to see what was going on. The world spun around like a top and I had to wait for it to right itself before even trying to stand. When I finally managed it, the dizziness set in again and this time refused to leave. Still, I felt okay enough to stumble towards the window and peer out.

In our own yard, I could only see the silhouettes of trees and bushes. That was at least until I spotted a man watching me in said trees and bushes.

I jerked back in surprise. My gut feeling was right – always was. A large figure stood by a tree in the yard, about thirty feet away, where he could easily see through the window. He was close enough that I probably could have thrown something and hit him if I wasn't so close to passing out. He was certainly close enough that he could have seen what Lissa and I had just done. Shit!

The shadows covered him so well that even with my heightened sight, I couldn't make out any of his features, save for his height. He was tall. Really tall. He only stood there for a second before stepping back into the shadows, clearly knowing he'd been spotted. I was pretty sure I saw someone else move nearby as well. This wasn't good. I had to get to Lissa now. They had finally found us.

Icy fear raced through me, almost—but not quite—eradicating the lovely bliss that Lissa's bite had left me in. Backing up from the bedroom window, I pulled on a pair of jeans that I found on the floor, nearly falling over in the process. Yep, real smooth Hathaway. The skimpy pyjama top would have to do for now.

Once the bloody pants were on I grabbed my coat and Lissa's, along with our wallets. Shoving my feet into the first shoes I saw – thankfully not heels – I headed out the door.

Downstairs, I found her in the small kitchen, rummaging through the refrigerator.

She sighs at me. "You shouldn't be up."

"We have to go. Now."

Her eyes widened, and then a moment later, understanding clicked in. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. I knew I couldn't explain how I knew for sure. I just did. The men lurking outside helped my case though.

Luckily our housemate Jeremy always left his keys in a bowl in front of the door so we didn't have to worry about Lissa using anymore of her spirit to snag the keys.

Walking out the door her fear poured into me through our psychic bond, but there was something else too: her complete faith that I would take care of everything, that we would be safe.

Like always, I hoped I was worthy of that kind of trust.

"Come on, it's parked down the street. Little less than four blocks away."

"Four?"

"It'll be ok, Liss"

"Rose…what are we going to do if they catch us?" she whispered.

"They won't," I said fiercely. "I won't let them."

"But if they've found us—"

"They found us before. They didn't catch us then. We'll just drive over to the train station and go to L.A. They'll lose the trail. Easy peasy."

I made it sound simple. I always did, even though there was nothing simple about being on the run from these people. We've been hiding wherever we could and had just been trying to finish high school for the last two years. Our senior year had just started, and living on a college campus had seemed safe. We were so close to the freedom we both desperately desired.

She spared me a quick smile and then went quite after that, and I felt her faith in me surge up once more. This was the way it had always been between us. I was the one who took action, who made sure things happened— sometimes recklessly so. She was the more reasonable one, the one who thought things out and researched them extensively before acting. Both styles had their uses at times, but at the moment, recklessness was called for. We didn't have a single second that could be donated to hesitating.

Lissa and I had been inseparable ever since kindergarten and we weren't going to be separated now.

"Do you hear that?" she asked suddenly.

It took me a few seconds to pick up what her sharper senses already had. Footsteps, moving fast. I grimaced. We had almost two more blocks to go.

"We've got to run for it," I said, catching hold of her arm.

"But you can't—"

"Run."

It took every ounce of my willpower not to pass out on the sidewalk. My body didn't want to run after losing so much blood _or_ while still metabolizing the effects of her saliva. But I clung to Lissa as our feet pounded against the concrete and pushed her forward. Normally I could have outrun her without any extra effort—particularly since she was barefoot and I had been training hard—but tonight, she was all that held me upright.

The pursuing footsteps grew louder and black stars danced before my eyes. We were almost to the car...

A man then stepped directly into our path, less than two feet in front of the car. We came to a screeching halt, and I jerked Lissa back by her arm. It was him, the guy I'd seen watching us. He was older than us, maybe mid-twenties, and rally tall, probably six-six or six-seven. Hell, he was practically a giant compared to me. And under different circumstances—for example, if he wasn't holding up our desperate escape—I would have thought he was hot. Shoulder-length brown hair, tied back in a short ponytail. Dark brown eyes. A long brown coat, a duster, I believe it was called.

But his hotness was – unfortunately – irrelevant now. He was only an obstacle keeping Lissa and me away from our freedom. The footsteps behind us slowed, and I knew our pursuers had caught up. We were surrounded. They'd sent almost a dozen guardians to retrieve us. I couldn't believe it. The queen herself didn't travel with that many. I guess I should take that as a compliment.

Panicked and not entirely in control of my thoughts, I acted purely out of instinct. I pressed up to Lissa, keeping her behind me and away from the man who appeared to be the leader.

"Leave her alone," I growled deeply, pushing away the haze in my vision while also trying to summon the darkness. I couldn't. I was useless now."Don't touch her."

His face was unreadable in the night, but I could see how he held out his hands in what was apparently some sort of calming gesture, like I was a rabid animal.

"I'm not going to—"

He took a step forward. Too close, according to my hazed brain.

I attacked him, leaping out in an offensive manoeuvre I used on strigoi but it was sloppy and slow. Another reaction caused by instinct and fear, not by sense. And it was hopeless, of course. He was a skilled guardian, not a short girl wacked up on Moroi saliva. Any other circumstance I could off taken him – or at least that's what I told myself.

And man, was he fast. I'd forgotten how fast guardians could be even without the extra qualities the darkness gives me. He knocked me off as though brushing away a fly, and his hands slammed into me and sent me backwards. I don't think he meant to strike that hard but my lack of coordination interfered with my ability to respond. Unable to catch my footing, I started to fall, heading straight toward the sidewalk at a twisted angle. This was going to hurt. A lot. Not only my body, but my poor pride as well.

Only it didn't. Well, my pride still got bruised, but the rest of me was fine.

Just as quickly as he'd blocked me, the man reached out and caught my arm, keeping me from crashing down. When I'd steadied myself, I noticed he was staring at me—or, more precisely, at my neck. I didn't get it right away, but then my free hand slowly reached up to the side of my throat and touched the wound Lissa had made earlier. When I pulled my fingers back, I saw blood on my skin. Maybe she should have healed me. It would have made this whole running away thing easier.

Embarrassed, I shook my hair so that it fell forward and covered the area. My hair was thick and long and completely covered my neck. I'd grown it out for precisely this reason. It also helped cover my tattoos, which I wasn't sure were being fully covered by my jacket at this moment.

The guy's dark eyes lingered on the now-covered bite a moment longer and then met mine. I returned his look defiantly and ripped my arm out of his hold. He let me go, though I knew he could have restrained me all night if he wanted. Fighting the nauseating dizziness again, I backed toward Lissa again, bracing myself for another attack. If I was going to make an idiot out of myself I may as well do it properly. Besides I promised Lissa.

"Rose," Lissa said quietly before reaching forward to grab my hand."Enough."

Her words had no effect on me at first, but she started to send calming thoughts through the bond which gradually began to settle in my mind, causing my body to relax. It wasn't exactly compulsion—she wouldn't do that to me—but it was effective and helped me realise the helplessness of the situation...as did the fact that we were incredibly outnumbered and outclassed with me in this state. The last of the tension left my body, and I sagged in defeat.

Sensing my resignation, the man stepped forward, turning his attention only to Lissa. He swept her a bow and somehow managed to look graceful while doing it. "My name is Dimitri Belikov," he said. I could hear a faint Russian accent. "And I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's Academy, Princess."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!**

 **Chapter Two**

If I didn't hate Dimitri Beli-whatever before, it was now official. On the way to the airport and onto the Academy's private jet, he'd taken one look at the two of us whispering and ordered us apart immediately.

"Don't let them talk to each other," he had warned the guardians who escorted me and Lissa to the plane. "Five minutes together, and they'll come up with an escape plan."

I had given him my trade mark 'bitch face' as Lissa called it and stormed off down the aisle, perceiving his plans to keep us apart. Never mind the fact we had been planning escape. At least Lissa managed to heal the bite before we were put into solitary confinement. Though she was smug and slightly teasing about it, as if she was trying to dispel the tension building in my body. Too bad I could feel her anxiety coming off her in waves.

 _Told you I should of healed it, but no, your way to stubborn and look where it got us. But hey, he believes it would only take us five minutes to think up a way to escape from more than ten high profile guardians. There's got to be a compliment in there somewhere._

I smiled at that but once we were in the air, our odds of escape however dropped even further, and what little bit of pride I did feel thanks to the somewhat back-handed compliment had left me. Even supposing a miracle occurred and I did manage to take out all ten guardians now I was healed and the Moroi saliva was out of my system, how the hell would we get off the plane? I figured they might have parachutes aboard somewhere, but in the unlikely event I'd be able to figure out how the bloody thing would work, we would probably land in the middle of nowhere. And flying the plane was out. Who the hell knows how to fly a plane? I certainly don't, although...I guess we could threaten the pilot...nah. Wouldn't work. I'd have no idea if he was flying the right way or not. And even if we got away the silver stakes I had stolen from the academy were still hidden in my suitcase so if we were to come across any strigoi we were dead anyway. I usually always keep one on me but in my haze I had completely forgotten about it. I guess I _was_ too stubborn.

No, we weren't getting off this plane until it landed in backwoods Montana. I'd have to think of something then, something that involved getting past the Academy's magical wards, ten times as many guardians and with a new stake in hand. Yeah. No problem at all. But we did it before, we can do it again. Plus we have spirit and the darkness to help this time.

I leant forward holding my head in my hands. Lissa's fear sang back to me from where she sat at the front of the plane with the Russian giant, and it pounded inside my skull like a hammer. My concern for her turned into fury at our captors and I had to reign in the darkness. They couldn't take her back there, not to that place. _Oh Lissa, I'm so sorry._

I wondered if Dimitri might have acted differently if he could feel her fear like I did and if he knew what I knew. Probably not.

Her worry and fear then proceeded to grow as we took off into the sky and became so strong that I slipped fully into her mind, looking through her eyes. At times like these I felt like I _was_ Lissa. I could feel every inch of her. I knew how a piece of hair was tickling her and how the aircon, aimed at mid-thigh, was just a bit too cold for her. I knew the intervals in which she tapped her fingers against her leg and how her left foot was falling asleep. It happened sometimes, and without much warning. She'd pull me right into her head. Luckily we managed to avoid that when we were faced with strigoi.

I was about to try and get back into my own head when, in Lissa's line of sight, Dimitri then leaned forward to pick up something, revealing six tiny symbols tattooed on the back of his neck: Molnija marks. They were the same as the ones I had on my own neck and down my back; being made up of two streaks of jagged lightning crossing in an X symbol. One given to him for each Strigoi he'd killed. Above them was a twisting line, sort of like a snake, that marked him as a guardian. The promise mark. That I did not have due to not graduating from the Academy and becoming an 'official' guardian. If they had it their way I would soon have the very same mark decorating my own neck.

Blinking, I fought against the force keeping me in her head and shifted back into my own with a grimace, taking some her darkness away at the same time. I hated it when that happened. Feeling Lissa's emotions was one thing, but slipping into her was something we both despised. She saw it as an invasion of privacy, so I usually didn't tell her when it happened, and it wasn't like either of us could control it. It was another effect of the bond, a bond neither of us fully understood even after discovering all that we had. We did the best we could with it though.

Near the end of the very long (and very boring) flight, Dimitri walked back to where I sat and traded places with the guardian beside me, who I had barely noticed was there to begin with. I turned away, staring out the window and tapping my fingers against the glass in a rhythm Lissa had recently gotten stuck in her head. Several moments of silence passed.

Finally, he said, "Were you really going to attack all of us?"

I didn't answer.

"Doing that…protecting her like that—it was very brave." He paused. "Stupid, but still brave. Why did you even try it?"

I glanced over at him, brushing my dark hair out of my face so I could look him in the eye."Because I'm her guardian." I say before turning back toward the window and resuming my tapping.

After another quiet moment, he sighed and stood up, going back to the front of the jet.

When we landed, Lissa and I were driven straight to the Academy with Lissa in the first car and me in the one following. Our cars stopped at the gate, and the first driver spoke with the guards who verified we weren't Strigoi about to go off on a killing spree (I didn't need to be a strigoi to have the desire to commit mass murder at the moment though). After a minute, they let us pass on through the wards and up to the school itself.

It looked the same as it was two years ago, sprawling and gothic. The Moroi were big on tradition; nothing ever changed with them. This school wasn't as old as the originals, but it had been built in the same style. The buildings boasted elaborate, almost churchlike architecture, with high peaks, stone carvings and wrought iron gates enclosing small gardens and doorways. There was a huge difference between this school and the ones my and Liss attended during our time with the humans. At least I remembered where everything was...I think.

When we walked into the main part of the upper school I broke from my guard – it wasn't like I could go anywhere – and ran up to Dimitri.

"Hey, Comrade."

He kept walking and wouldn't look at me, only the direction he was headed.

"Are you taking us to Kirova?"

"Headmistress Kirova," he corrected. On the other side of him, Lissa shot me a look but I ignored her. Goody two-shoes that she was.

"Headmistress, ha! Like that makes all the difference. She's still a self-righteous old bit—"

My words faded as I figured out the path we were to take — straight into the commons. I sighed. Perfect.

Were these people really so cruel? There had to be at least a dozen ways to get to Kirova's office, and they were taking us right through the centre of the commons. At breakfast time. Everyone would be there and I was still in my pajamas.

When we entered, the loud buzz of conversation stopped instantly, like someone had flipped a switch. Hundreds of eyes turned toward us.

I returned the stares of my former classmates with a large grin, as if revelling in the attention, while trying to pick out familiar faces and subtly making sure my tattoos where covered. I managed to spot a few people who looked the same, Lissa's ex-boyfriend Aaron for one. Poor thing, you could tell by just looking at him that he wasn't over Liss. It was a pity as she'd gone out with him simply because it seemed like the expected thing to do. Hey, wait a sec. There was a girl holding his hand. Apparently he found a way to pass the time without her. However, if I didn't know any better I would of taken Aaron's new girl for a child with her plump little cheeks and blond ringlets. The very pissed off look she shot Lissa and the way she gripped his hand tightly when we passed shocked me as well. What the hell was that all about? She was no one I knew. Just a jealous girlfriend, I guessed. I'd be pissed too if my guy was watching someone like Aaron was looking at Lissa. Not that I could blame him. Lissa always looks like an angel.

Our walk of shame mercifully ended, though our new setting—Kirova's office—didn't exactly improve our situation. The old witch looked exactly like I remembered, hook-nosed and gray-haired. She was tall and slim, like most Moroi, and had always reminded me of a vulture. I'd spent a lot of time in her office before we left and wasn't looking forward to being back.

Most of our escorts left us once Lissa and I were seated in front of her desk, and I felt a little less like a prisoner. Only Alberta (who met up with us outside the office), the captain of the school's guardians and one of the only people at this school I genuinely liked, and Dimitri stayed. They took up positions along the wall, looking stoic and terrifying, just as their job description required.

Kirova fixed her angry eyes on us from where she stood behind her desk and opened her mouth to begin what would no doubt be a major bitch session. However a familiar, gentle voice stopped her.

"Vasilisa."

Startled, I realized who the other person was. I had known that there was someone else in the room with us, I just never bothered to look to see who it was. Lissa obviously hadn't seen him either but still jumped up automatically and ran to him, helping Prince Victor Dashkov raise from his chair before hugging his frail body.

"Uncle," she whispered. She sounded on the verge of tears as she tightened her grip. She had missed him while we were away and often dreamed of seeing him again. Although not technically her uncle—the Moroi used family terms very loosely, especially the royals—he was a part of what little family she had left and had been there for her when her parents and brother had died.

With a small smile, he gently patted her back. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe, Vasilisa." He looked toward me as an afterthought. "And you too, Rose."

I nodded back, trying to hide how shocked I was at his state. He'd been sick when we left, but this—this was horrible. He was about forty or so, but he looked twice his age. My heart broke watching him. With all the horrible people in the world, it didn't seem fair that this guy should get a disease that was going to kill him young and ultimately keep him from becoming king. He'd surely do a better job than the evil bitch we have ruling now.

Kirova let them have a few more moments before getting Lissa back to her seat.

Time for the lecture.

It was a good one, one of Kirova's best, which was saying something. She was a master at them. I swear that was the only reason she'd gone into school administration, because I had yet to see any evidence of her actually liking kids. The rant covered the usual topics and I immediately found myself spacing out, alternatively pondering the logistics of escaping through the window in her office. Luckily it wasn't bared so that increased my chances greatly.

But when the tirade shifted directly to me and I had to tune back in.

"Miss Hathaway, you broke the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a Moroi. It is a great trust. A trust that you broke by selfishly taking the princess away. The Strigoi would love to finish off the Dragomirs; you nearly enabled them to do it."

"Rose didn't kidnap me." Lissa interrupted, "I wanted to go. Don't blame her."

Ms. Kirova rolled her eyes. "Miss Dragomir, you could have been the one who orchestrated the entire plan for all I know, but it was still her responsibility to make sure you didn't carry it out. If she'd done her duty, she would have notified someone – anyone. If she'd done her duty, she would have kept you safe."

I snapped out of my silence, darkness rising in my veins.

"I did do my duty!" I shouted, jumping up from my chair, causing it to crash to the floor with a loud bang. Dimitri and Alberta both flinched but left me alone since I wasn't trying to hit anyone. Yet. "I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of you could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do!"

Through the bond, I felt Lissa trying to send me calming messages, again urging me not to let anger get the best of me. Too late.

Kirova stared at me, her face blank. "Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?"

I bit my lip. Lissa didn't want anyone to know and I couldn't betray her trust.

"I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you two left—aside from the sheer novelty of it, no doubt knowing you—was to avoid the consequences of that destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance."

"No, that's not—"

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. Of course, as a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away from here as soon as possible."

My anger dried up as shock invaded my system."What?"

Lissa stood up beside me. "You can't do that! She's my guardian."

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents—"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is and always will be expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave."

I stared at Kirova, unable to believe what I was hearing. "Where are you going to send me? To my mother, wherever the Hell she is? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me off to my father?" Her eyes narrowed at the hate I placed in that last word. When I spoke again, my voice was so cold, I barely recognized it. "Or maybe you're going to try to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day." And we would.

"Miss Hathaway," she hissed, "you are out of line."

 _Ha, says the woman who called me 'expendable.'_

"They have a bond." Dimitri's low, accented voice broke the heavy tension, and we all turned towards were he stood by the door. I think Kirova had forgotten he was there, but I hadn't. His presence was way too powerful to ignore. He stood against the wall, looking like some sort of cowboy sentry in that ridiculous long coat of his. He looked only at me, not Lissa, with his dark eyes staring straight through me. "Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling. Don't you?"

I at least had the satisfaction of seeing Kirova caught off guard as she glanced between us and Dimitri.

"No…that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries."

"It's obvious," he said. "I suspected as soon as I started watching them."

Neither Lissa nor I responded, and I averted my eyes from his. I couldn't give anything away.

"That is a gift," murmured Victor from his corner."A rare and wonderful thing."

"The best guardians always had that bond," added Dimitri."In the stories."

Kirova's outrage returned. "Stories that are centuries old," she exclaimed. "Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?"

He shrugged. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but she has potential—"

"Wild and disrespectful?"I interrupted. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"

"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," said Kirova."Her _sanctioned_ guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labour to protect Lissa?"

That was pretty mean of me to say, particularly since most Moroi and their guardians were of Russian or Romanian descent. And it wasn't like I was one to talk. I might have been raised in the U.S. but my parents were foreign-born. My dhampir mother was Scottish—red-haired, with a completely ridiculous accent—and I'd been told my Moroi dad was Turkish. That genetic combination had given me skin the same color as the inside of an almond, along with what I liked to think were semi-exotic desert-princess features: big dark eyes and hair so deep brown that it usually looked black. The only thing I inherited that I didn't like was my mother's short stature. In other words, I was the complete opposite of Lissa with her pale skin, angelic features, platinum blond hair and model height. We made a striking pair.

Kirova threw her hands up in exasperation and turned to him. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and very raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."

"So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again."

"Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers."

"No, I won't," I argued but no one listened to me.

"Then give her extra training sessions," he said.

They continued on while the rest of us watched the exchange like it was a Ping-Pong game. My pride was still hurt over the ease with which Dimitri had beaten me earlier, but it occurred to me that he might very well be the only one able to keep me here with Lissa. Better to stay at this hellhole than be without her. Through our bond, I could feel her trickle of hope.

"Who's going to put in the extra time?" demanded Kirova."You?"

Dimitri's argument came to an abrupt stop. "Well, that's not what I—"

Kirova crossed her arms with satisfaction. "See. That's what I thought."

Clearly at a loss, he frowned. His eyes flicked toward Lissa and me, and I wondered what he saw. Two pathetic girls, looking at him with big, pleading eyes? Or two runaways who'd broken out of a high-security school and swiped a lot of Lissa's inheritance for a joy ride? Not that we used it all the time. Only in emergencies. The money we often found in the pockets of the strigoi I staked could usually keep us going for quite some time.

He finally made up his mind. "I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what?" retorted Kirova angrily. "She goes unpunished?"

"Find some other way to punish her," answered Dimitri. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl, in particular."

His unspoken words made me shudder, reminding me of my earlier statement about 'blood whores.' Few dhampir girls became guardians anymore.

Victor suddenly spoke up from his corner. "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Rose away would be a shame, a real waste of talent." And he didn't even know about the marks decorating my back.

Ms. Kirova stared out her window for a while before turning back around. This enabled Lissa to meet her eyes and let a trickle of spirit filter into her words. "Please, Ms. Kirova. Let Rose stay."

"If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be," She starts, breaking eye contact with Lissa and turning to me. "Your continued enrolment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line once, and you're gone. You will attend all classes and required trainings for novices your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have—before and after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent away."

I gave a harsh laugh. "Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart?" I looked toward Lissa. "Afraid we'll run away again?"

"I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for." Her thin lips tightened into a straight line. "You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

I started to say it wasn't generous at all (especially as I wasn't the one to blame for that incident), but then I caught Dimitri's gaze. It was hard to read. He might have been telling me he believed in me or he might have been telling me I was an idiot to keep fighting. I didn't know.

What I did know was that Lissa wanted me to take this deal, so that is what I'd do. It was the only way to keep on protecting her. At long last, I exhaled and glanced back up at the headmistress.

"Fine. I accept."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!**

 **Chapter Three**

Sending us straight to class after our meeting seemed beyond cruel, but that's exactly what Kirova did. At least we were given time to get changed into some of the clothes we'd left in our dorm rooms when Lissa and I had run away, having been unable to take everything with us. I had thrown on a pair of my old slacks and an everyday shirt, making sure it had a high back first, before slipping on a pair of trainers. The top and pants were a bit tighter around the bust and hips then when I first got them but that would work to my advantage today with most of my peers being male. I would have preferred a nice, warm shower though. I see through the bond that Lissa is thinking along the same lines. I was slightly cheered up though when they informed us they were collecting all our stuff from Portland. I just hoped they wouldn't get curious and look through our suitcases.

They then sent me to one of the guidance counsellors after leading Lissa away. He was an ancient Moroi guy, one I remembered from before I'd left. I honestly couldn't believe he was still around. The guy was so freaking old, he should have retired. Or died.

The visit took all of five minutes. He said nothing about my return and only asked a few questions about what classes I'd taken in Chicago and Portland. He compared those against my old (and some-what bulging) file and hastily scrawled out a new schedule. I took it sullenly and headed out to my first class, looking down at the hastily scrawled script.

 _1stPeriod Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques_

 _2ndPeriod Bodyguard Theory and Personal Protection 3_

 _3rdPeriod Weight Training and Conditioning_

 _4thPeriod Senior Language Arts (Novices)_

 _—_ _Lunch—_

 _5thPeriod Animal Behavior and Physiology_

 _6thPeriod Pre-calculus_

 _7thPeriod Moroi Culture 4_

 _8thPeriod Slavic Art_

Great. I'd forgotten how long the Academy's school day was. Novices and Moroi took separate classes during the first half of the day, which meant I wouldn't see Lissa until lunch at the earliest. Hopefully we would have some afternoon classes together. Most of them were standard senior classes, so I felt my odds were pretty good.

Dimitri and Alberta then escorted me to the guardians' gym for first period, neither one acknowledging my existence. Walking behind them, I saw how Alberta wore her hair in a short, pixie cut that showed her promise mark and molnija marks. A lot of female guardians did this and it only served as a reminder to make sure my own were safely covered. The last thing we needed was to attract attention and a novice with as many marks as I had definitely would.

They didn't say anything as we walked along, almost like it was any other day, but when we arrived the reactions of my fellow prisoners indicated it was anything but. They were in the middle of setting up when we entered the gym, and just like in the commons, all eyes fell on me.

Huh, all right, then. If I was going to be stuck here for a while, I wasn't going to take any crap. Lissa and I had once held this school's respect, and it was time to remind everyone of that.

Scanning the staring, open mouthed novices, I looked once again for a familiar face. Most of them, of course, were guys. One in particular caught my eye and I could barely hold back my grin.

"Hey Mason! Wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time."

A few snorts and snickers broke the awed silence, and Mason Ashford snapped out of his haze, giving me a lopsided smile. With red hair that stuck up everywhere and a smattering of freckles, he was nice-looking, though not exactly hot. He was also one of the funniest guys I knew. We'd been good friends since my mother dumped me here as a small kid and I'd come to think of him as a brother. I had genuinely missed him when I was away from the Academy.

"This is my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."

"Oh yeah?"I retorted. "Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then."

"It's always a good a time to think about you naked," added someone nearby, breaking the tension further. Eddie Castile. Another good friend of mine who I had missed.

Dimitri shook his head and walked off, muttering something in Russian that didn't sound very complimentary. Meh, it was his problem. But my plan had worked and, just like that, I was one of the novices again. They were an easygoing bunch, less focused on pedigree and politics than the Moroi students. (I'll have to remember to check in with Lissa about those royal snobs next time I see her as I promised I would try not to go into her head unless it was necessary.)

The class soon engulfed me, and I found myself laughing and talking to those I'd nearly forgotten about. Everyone wanted to know where we'd been; apparently Lissa and I had become legends. I couldn't tell them why we'd left of course, so I offered up a lot of taunts, smirks and wouldn't-you-like-to-knows that served just as well. Telling them where we went might also be problematic in case a guardian listened in and made the connection between where we were and the groups of strigoi bodies found.

The happy reunion lasted only a few more minutes before the adult guardian who oversaw the training came over and scolded Mason for neglecting his duties. Still grinning, he barked out orders to everyone, explaining what exercises to start with. Uneasily I realized I didn't know what most of them were. What I did know, however, I practiced to death so I assumed it wouldn't take that long to learn the new ones. Might even make training a bit more interesting with a few more things to do.

"Come on, Hathaway," he said, taking my arm. "You can be my partner. Let's see what you've been doing all this time."

An hour later, he had his answer.

"Jesus Christ, ow! What _have_ you been doing?" He winced from his position on the floor. "You know steroids are bad for you, right?"

I extended a hand and helped him up from the mat I'd knocked him down on. Again. I might not have been able to do the new exercises the best but I still had my strength and speed.

"Ha ha, well you seem to be doing ok even without the drugs," I compliment as I rub the spot on my thigh that was going to have a wicked bruise tomorrow. I wasn't expecting that move.

"Sure, Hathaway. You have one bruise. I'm not sure if I can walk tomorrow."

"I still hate you," I told him as he straightens out his shirt, "I won't be able to wear shorts for ages and I had this really cute dress..."

"In this weather?"

"Shut up."

"You'd hate me more if I held back."

"Yeah, that's true," I agreed as I helped to put the equipment away.

"Besides, I really didn't need to. You can kick ass Hathaway. You must have trained while you were away."

"Yeah, I made Lissa go to the gym with me. She sat in the corner doing homework while I showed off to the buff guys sweating in the back."

"Poor humans."

"Yeah. You should have seen their faces when I lifted those weights." I smirked before putting my hands on my hips. "They were like _how the hell does a girl who doesn't even reach my biceps lift that!_ "

"Well, as long as you get those new exercises down pat you'll surely pass exams in spring."

"I'm sure I'll get there. They're making me take extra practice sessions," I explained. Not that it mattered. I planned on getting Lissa and me out of here before these practices, or exams, really became an issue. It was nice to catch up with my friends but Lissa comes first.

"Extra sessions with who?"

"That tall guy. Dimitri."

Mason stopped what he was doing and stared at me. "You're putting in extra time with Belikov?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"So? That man is a god."

"Exaggerate much?" I asked slightly miffed.

"No, I'm serious. I mean, he's all quiet and antisocial, but when he fights…wow. He'll give you a run for your money Miss Show-Off."

I'd love to see him try. I've been dying to know how I do in a fight against him since I got rid of all the endorphins in my blood stream.

In reply to Mason however I just elbowed him and went on to second period. This class covered the essentials of being a bodyguard and was required for all seniors. Actually, it was the third in a series of classes that had started junior year. That meant I was majorly behind in this class too, but I hoped protecting Lissa in the real world had given me some insight.

Our instructor was Stan Alto, whom we referred to simply as "Stan" (or some other more derogative names) behind his back and "Guardian Alto" in formal settings. He was a little older than Dimitri, but not nearly as tall, and he always looked pissed off. Today that look intensified when he walked into the classroom and saw me sitting at my desk. His eyes widened in mock surprise as he circled the room and came to stand beside me.

"What's this? No one told me we had a special guest speaker here today. Miss Rose Hathaway. What an absolute privilege! How very generous of you to take time out of your incredibly busy schedule and share your knowledge with the rest of the class."

I felt my cheeks burning, but in a great show of self-control, I smothered the rising colour and stopped myself from telling him to fuck off.

I'm pretty sure my face must have delivered the message though because his sneer increased. He gestured for me to stand up. Ass. As if I didn't have enough shit to deal with today.

"Well, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class."

My shoulders tensed and I remained firmly planted in my seat. "You don't really mean—"

The taunting smile dried up. "I mean exactly what I say, Hathaway. Go to the front of the class."

A thick silence enveloped the room. Stan was a scary instructor but I refused to crack. I have faced multiple strigoi; I can face one horrid teacher. I strode up to the front of the room and turned to face the class. I gave them a bold look and tossed my hair over my shoulders, being careful of my marks and earning a few sympathetic smiles from my friends. I then noticed I had a larger audience than expected. A few guardians—including Dimitri—lingered in the back of the room, monitoring the class.

"So, Hathaway," said Stan cheerfully, strolling back up to the front of the room and leaning against his desk. "Enlighten us about your protective techniques."

"My…techniques?"

"Of course. Because presumably you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took an underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats."

It was the Kirova lecture all over again, except with more witnesses. And I couldn't do anything about it if I wanted Lissa safe.

"We never ran into any Strigoi," I lied stiffly.

"Obviously," he said with a snicker. "I already figured that out, seeing as how you're both still breathing."

Darkness rose once again in my vision. It was getting harder and harder to control now that we were back in school gates. I would have let some out during practice with Mason but I didn't want to actually hurt him. Not like I wanted to hurt Stan at the moment.

When I didn't say anything, Stan straightened up and started pacing in front of the class.

"So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?"

"Sometimes." That was true. We'd relaxed a little after I had begun to take out the strigoi in the area we were living in. It lowered the chance of surprise attacks greatly and if there were to be any strigoi around the darkness would immediately let me know and give me time to get Lissa to safety.

"Sometimes," he repeated in a high-pitched voice, making my answer sound so incredibly stupid. "Well then, I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night."

"Er…no." Again true. I felt it more important to be awake and alert when we went out so if we were to face any strigoi then I would be fully prepared to take them on. It was also harder to live on a human schedule and still go to school with only an hours sleep each night. I tried, it so didn't work.

"No? But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know that because you weren't here for that."

I swallowed back more swear words and darkness. "I watched the area whenever we went out," I said, needing to defend myself.

"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?"

I didn't say anything. How would I know? Stupid fancy names!

"Ah. I'm guessing you used the Hathaway Glance-Around-When-You-Remember-To Method."

"No!" I exclaimed angrily. "That's not true. I watched her. She's still alive, isn't she?"

He walked back up to me and leaned toward my face."Because you got lucky."

"Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there," I shot back. "It's not like what we've been taught. It's safer than you guys make it sound." And it was if you took them out on your terms, instead of waiting for them to come to you.

"Safer? Safer? We are at war with the Strigoi!" he yelled. I could smell coffee on his breath, he was so close. "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him—and he'd barely break a sweat doing it." He somehow got closer. "You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, nothing, compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"

 _Keep the darkness down. Control it._

Looking away from him, I tried to focus on something else. My eyes rested on Dimitri and the other guardians. They were watching my humiliation, stone-faced.

"Moroi blood," I whispered.

"What was that?" asked Stan loudly. "I didn't catch it."

I spun back around to face him."Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger."

He nodded in satisfaction and took a few steps back. "Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've done despicable things to gain immortality, and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality. Desperate Strigoi even attack Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And that is why Moroi numbers are dropping. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear..?"

"…so do the dhampirs," I finished strongly.

"Well," he said, licking sprayed spit off his lips. "It looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester."

Ouch. I spent the rest of that horrible class—in my seat, thankfully—replaying those last words in my mind. The senior-year field experience was the best part of a novice's education. We'd have no classes for half a semester. Instead, we'd each be assigned a Moroi student to guard and follow around. The adult guardians would monitor us and test us with staged attacks and other threats. How a novice passed that field experience was almost as important as all the rest of her grades combined. It could influence which Moroi she got assigned to after graduation.

And me? There was only one Moroi I wanted and I was determined to get her.

Two classes later, I finally earned my lunch escape. As I stumbled across campus toward the commons, Dimitri fell into step beside me, not looking particularly godlike—unless you counted his godly good looks.

 _No Rose. Bad Rose. The Russian Giant is evil._

"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?" I asked, not bothering with titles.

"Yes."

"And you don't think that was unfair?"

"Was he right? Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?"

I looked down at the ground in defiance. "I kept her alive."

"How did you do fighting against your classmates today?"

"I did well."

"Hmmm, I'm sure."

"I did!"

"If you can't fight them —"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I snapped. Fine! He doesn't have to believe me. I'll show him! Just wait until our first training session! I'll whoop his nice-looking arse.

"You're strong and fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained. Did you play any sports while you were gone?"

"Sure," I shrugged."Now and then."

"You didn't join any teams?"

"Too much work. I went to the gym to practice when I could though."

He gave me an exasperated look. "You'll never be able to really protect the princess if you don't hone your skills. You'll always be lacking."

"I'll be able to protect her," I said fiercely.

"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know—for your field experience or after you graduate." Dimitri's voice was low and unapologetic. They hadn't given me a warm and fuzzy mentor. Not that I needed a mentor, I could easily catch up.

"No one wants to waste the bond— but no one's going to give her an inadequate guardian either. If you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. You have your lessons and you have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you both graduate—if you can prove you're worthy of the position. I hope you will."

"Lissa, call her Lissa," I corrected. She hated her full name.

He walked away without answering and I suddenly didn't feel like such a badass anymore despite the marks decorating my neck and back. After all, where Dimitri's marks – although much less in number – had all been acquired purely by skill, most of mine had been tainted by the ill effects of spirit and the added strength and speed that the darkness gave me, both of which made each kill easier. I needed to change that, I realised. I need to be a true guardian and not just pass with my skills, but excel without the dependence on the darkness as if it were a drug, and use it only as an asset. That way I can truly be my best and protect Lissa to the absolute best of my ability.

After I'd concluded my epiphany (yes, yes. I know), I'd burned up a lot of my lunch time. Everyone else had long since sprinted inside the commons for their break, eager to maximize their social time. I'd almost made it there myself when a voice under the door's overhang called out to me.

"Rose?"

Peering in the voice's direction, I caught sight of Victor Dashkov, his kind face smiling at me as he leaned on an old wicker cane near the building's wall. His two guardians stood nearby at a polite distance.

"Mr. Dash—er,Your Highness. Hey."

I caught myself just in time, having nearly forgotten Moroi royal terms. I hadn't used them while living among humans and they were a little fuzzy. I still remembered though that the Moroi chose their rulers from among twelve royal families. The eldest in the family got the title of "prince" or "princess." Lissa, however, had gotten hers because she was the only one left in her line.

"How was your first day?" he asked, hobbling forward.

"Not over yet." I tried to think of something conversational. "Are you visiting here for a while?"

"I'll be leaving this afternoon after I say hello to Natalie. When I heard Vasilisa—and you—had returned, I simply had to come see you. I was so worried."

I nodded, not sure what else to say. He was more Lissa's friend than mine.

"I wanted to tell you…" He spoke hesitantly. "I understand the gravity of what you did, but I think the Headmistress failed to acknowledge some things. You did keep Vasilisa safe all this time. That is impressive."

"Well, it's not like I faced down Strigoi or anything," I said, keeping up the lie.

"But you faced down some things?"

"Sure. The school sent psi-hounds once." This I was happy to admit to.

"Remarkable."

"Not really. Avoiding them was pretty easy."

He laughed. "I've hunted with them before. They aren't that easy to evade, not with their powers and intelligence." It was true. Psi-hounds were one of many types of magical creatures that wandered the world that humans never knew about or else didn't believe they'd really seen. The hounds travelled in small packs and shared a sort of psychic communication that made them particularly deadly to their prey. Successfully avoiding them had been a huge ego boost. "Did you face anything else?"

I shrugged."Little things here and there."

"Remarkable," he repeated.

"Lucky, I think. It turns out I'm really behind in all this guardian stuff." My thoughts drifted back to Stan's class and the fancy-ass terms I will need to learn.

"You're a smart girl. You'll catch up. And you also have your extraordinary bond."

I looked away. My ability to 'feel' Lissa had been such a secret for so long it felt weird to have others know about it. I just prayed the rest would stay only between me and Liss.

"Our history is full of stories of guardians who could feel when their charges were in danger," Victor continued. "I've made a hobby of studying up on it and some of the ancient ways. I've heard it's a tremendous asset."

"I guess." I shrugged. _What a boring hobby_ , I thought, imagining him poring over a stack of huge, dusty books in some dank library covered in spider webs. Though I guess it could be useful, I just wouldn't know how to ask about what Liss and I have without giving some information back.

Victor tilted his head, curiosity all over his face. Kirova and the others had had the same look when we'd mentioned our connection, like we were lab rats. "What is it like—if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's…" How do I answer this? "I don't know. I just sort of always have this hum of how she feels. Usually it's just emotions. We can't send messages or anything." Well, not both ways. And he doesn't need to know about the whole out-of-body-experience thing.

"But it doesn't work the other way? She doesn't sense you?"

I shook my head. That I could tell the truth about. And thank God too. I like my privacy and in no way want to give it up.

His face shone with wonder, momentarily erasing some of the physical effects of the disease that marked his face. "How did it happen?"

"I don't know," I said, still glancing away."Just started two years ago."

He frowned."Near the time of the accident?"

Hesitantly, I nodded. The accident was not something I wanted to talk about, that was for sure. Lissa's memories were bad enough without my own mixing into them. Twisted metal. A sensation of hot, then cold, then hot again. Lissa screaming over me, screaming for me to wake up, screaming for her parents and her brother to wake up. None of them had though, only me.

The doctors said that was a miracle in itself. They said I shouldn't have survived. And I shouldn't of. Lissa had saved me. It was a debt I'd never be able to repay especially when she could of saved one of her parents or brother instead.

Apparently sensing my discomfort, Victor let the moment go and returned to his earlier excitement.

"I can still barely believe this. It's been so long since this has happened! I could only imagine if it did happen more often…just think what it could do for the safety of all Moroi. If only others could experience this too. I'll have to do more research..."

"Yeah."

I was getting impatient, despite how much I liked him. His niece Natalie from what I remembered rambled on a lot, and it was pretty clear which parent she'd inherited that quality from. Lunch time was ticking down and, although Moroi and novices shared afternoon classes, Lissa and I wouldn't have much time to talk. Plus I was really hungry.

"Perhaps we could—" He started coughing, a great, seizing fit that made his whole body shake. His disease, Sandovsky's Syndrome, took the lungs down with it while dragging the body toward death. I cast an anxious look at his guardians, and one of them stepped forward. "Your Highness," he said politely, "you need to go inside and get warm. It's too cold out here."

Victor nodded. "Yes, yes. And I'm sure Rose here wants to eat." He turned to me. "Thank you for speaking to me. I can't emphasize how much it means to me that Vasilisa is safe— and that you helped with that. I'd promised her father I'd look after her if anything happened to him, and I felt like quite the failure when you left."

A sinking sensation filled my stomach as I imagined him wracked with guilt and worry over our disappearance. Until now, I hadn't really thought about how others might have felt about us leaving. Lissa was the only one I was truly worried about as it wasn't like I had a true family of my own other than her.

We made our goodbyes, and I finally arrived inside the school. As I did, I felt Lissa's anxiety spike.

Ignoring the rumbling in my stomach, I picked up my pace and ran into the commons and almost right into her.

She didn't see me, though. Neither did the people standing with her: Aaron and that little doll girl he was with earlier. I stopped and listened, just catching the end of the conversation. The girl leaned toward Lissa, who seemed more stunned than anything else.

"It looks to me like it came from a garage sale. I thought a precious Dragomir would have standards."

Scorn dripped off the word _Dragomir._

Grabbing Doll Girl by the shoulder roughly, I jerked her away. She stumbled three feet and nearly fell, she was that light.

"She does have standards," I said putting myself between them, "which is why you're done talking to her."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!**

 **Chapter Four**

We didn't have the entire commons' attention this time, thank God, but a few passing people had stopped to watch the action. Vultures. The lot of them.

"What the hell?" asked Doll Girl, clearly pissed.

Being up close to her now, I was able to get a better look at what she really looked like. She had the same slim build as most Moroi but in no way the usual height, which was partly what made her look so young. The tiny, brightly coloured dress she wore was indeed lovely—reminding me that I did, in fact, dress in second hand clothes from a thrift-shop while we were away and was now wearing the same (now too small) clothes that I had bought two years previously —but closer inspection led me to think it was a designer knockoff. That made me feel heaps better.

I refocused on the situation, crossing my arms across my chest and pulling the shirt tighter across my chest and arms, exposing the muscle there. "Are you lost, little girl? The elementary school's over on west campus."

Her cheeks flooded with colour as did much of her neck and she took a hesitant step back almost automatically. "Don't you ever touch me again. You screw with me, and I'll screw with you right back."

Hah, what an opening that was.

 _No,_ Lissa told me through the bond while shaking her head slightly. She knew I was only seconds away from unleashing any number of hilarious comebacks. So instead I opted for simple brute force, so to speak. Just to make sure the message well and truly got through her small, and obviously thick, skull.

"And if you mess with either of us again, I'll break you in half. If you don't believe me, go ask Dawn Yarrow about what I did to her arm in ninth grade. You were probably at nap time when it happened." I'd also tell her to ask the strigoi I killed, but a) that would be spilling the beans, and b) she can't exactly ask them as, well, it isn't as if there is anything left of them after I was done.

The incident with Dawn hadn't been one of my finer moments. I honestly hadn't meant to break any bones when I pushed her into that tree. Still, the incident had given me a dangerous reputation, in addition to my smartass one. The story had literally gained legendary status around the school, and I liked to imagine that it was still being told around campfires late at night. Judging from the look on this girl's face and the way the colour receded out of her face, it was.

One of the patrolling staff members strolled by right then, casting suspicious eyes at our little meeting. Clearly, they knew my reputation too.

The girl sent a hesitant look in the direction of the teacher and she backed off, taking Aaron's with her. "Come on," she said, tugging at his arm.

"Hey, Aaron," I said cheerfully, remembering he was there. It was so easy for him to blend into the background. "Nice to see you again."

He gave me a quick nod and an uneasy smile, just as the girl finally managed to drag him off. Same old Aaron. He might be cute, but aggressive he was not.

I turned back to Lissa. "You okay?" She nodded. "Any idea who I just threatened to beat up in your honour?"

"Aww, my Knight in Shining Armour. And not a clue." I started to lead her toward the lunch line, but she shook her head at me. _I've gotta go see the feeders,_ she told me through the bond.

A funny feeling settled over me. I'd gotten so used to being her primary blood source that the thought of returning to the Moroi's normal routine of feeding off of random humans seemed strange and almost unsettling.

Daily feedings were part of a Moroi's life, something I hadn't been able to offer her while living on our own. It had been an inconvenient situation, one that left me weak and unprepared on feeding days and her weak on the days in between. I know I should have been happy and not feeling...like this.

I forced a smile. "Sure."

We then proceeded to walk into the feeding room which was placed conveniently next to the cafeteria. It was set up with small cubicles, dividing up the room's space in order to offer privacy, much like a hospital would be. A dark-haired Moroi woman greeted us at the entrance and glanced down, flipping through the pages of her clipboard. Obviously finding what she needed, she made a few notes and then gestured for Lissa to follow her. Me she gave a puzzled look (dhampir did not usually accompany moroi when they were feeding), but she didn't stop me from entering. There was no rule against it.

She led us to one of the cubicles where a plump, middle-aged woman sat leafing through a fashion magazine full of models that would kill for the moroi's slim body shape.

She looked up at our approach and smiled. In her eyes, I could see the dreamy, glazed-over look most feeders had. The same one I have had a lot in the past two years. She'd probably neared her quota for the day, judging from how high she appeared to be.

Recognizing Lissa, though I don't know how, her smile grew. "Welcome back, Princess."

The moroi left and Lissa sat down in the chair beside the woman. I sensed a feeling of discomfort in her, only a little different from my own. This was weird for her too. The feeder, however, had no such reservations.

Disgust poured into me as I saw her ecstatic smile. It was an old instinct, one that had been drilled into me ever since birth. Human feeders, those who willingly volunteered to be a regular blood source, were essential to Moroi life, but at the heart of it were still drug users – addicts to Moroi saliva and the rush it offered with each bite.

The feeder tilted her head, giving Lissa full access to her neck. Her skin there was marked with scars from years of daily bites. The infrequent feedings Lissa and I had done and the occasional use of spirit had thankfully kept my neck clear; my bite marks never lasted more than a day or so.

Lissa leaned forward, her fangs biting into the feeder's flesh. The woman closed her eyes, making a soft sound of pleasure. I swallowed, watching Lissa drink. I couldn't see any of the blood flowing into her mouth, but I could imagine it. A surge of longing and jealousy welled up inside me and, not for the first time, I was glad that the bond wasn't two-way. I had to avert my eyes and clenched my hands while I mentally scolded myself.

 _What's wrong with you? Why should you miss it? You only did it once every day or so for the last two years. You aren't addicted, not like this. And you don't want to be. It doesn't feel that good._

But I couldn't help myself. I couldn't help the way I felt as I recalled the bliss and rush of the bite. It was always especially great after I had watched what was left of the life drain away from the eyes of the strigoi I had killed. Although they had been monsters, they had been once been moroi, dhampirs and unsuspecting humans. The waste of life always got to me and a good hand scrubbing and Lissa's bite had always helped me forget, at least for a little while, what I had done. Lissa would then drag me to the nearest tattoo parlour to get my marks. I had stopped protesting and had just gone with it after a while.

Lissa finished and we went to join the line to pick up lunch. It was short, since we only had fifteen minutes left, and I strolled up and began to load my plate with French fries and some rounded, bite-size objects that looked vaguely like chicken nuggets. I had no idea and with how hungry I was, I didn't really care. Lissa only grabbed a yogurt. Moroi needed food, as dhampirs and humans did, but rarely had an appetite after drinking blood.

"So how'd classes go?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Okay. Lots of stares. A lot of stares. Lots of questions about where we were for the last two years. Whispering. Stuff like that."

"Same here," I said. The attendant checked us out, and we walked toward the tables. I gave Lissa a sidelong glance. "You okay with that? They aren't bothering you, are they? I don't need to threaten anyone else?"

"No—it's fine." The emotions coming through the bond contradicted her words. Knowing I could feel that, she tried to change the subject by handing me her class schedule. I looked it over.

 _1stPeriod Russian 2_

 _2ndPeriod American Colonial Literature_

 _3rdPeriod Basics of Elemental Control_

 _4thPeriod Ancient Poetry_

 _—_ _Lunch —_

 _5thPeriod Animal Behaviour and Physiology_

 _6thPeriod Advanced Calculus_

 _7thPeriod Moroi Culture 4_

 _8thPeriod Slavic Art_

"Nerd," I said. "If you were in Stupid Math like me, we'd have the same afternoon schedule." I stopped walking. "But why are you in elemental basics? That's a sophomore class."

She eyed me."Because seniors take specialized classes."

We fell silent at that. All Moroi wielded elemental magic. It was one of the things that made them different to Strigoi. Moroi viewed magic as a gift. It was part of their souls and connected them to the world. They had once used their magic openly, averting natural disasters and helping with things like food and water production. They didn't need to do that as much anymore, but the magic was still burned in their blood. Academies like this all provided classes to help Moroi control the magic and learn how to do things with it. Students also had to learn the rules that surrounded magic, rules that had been in place for centuries and were strictly enforced.

All the Moroi had small talent in each of the elements (earth, water, fire, and air) but when they got to be around our age students "specialized" with one element growing stronger than the others. Not specializing was like not going through puberty. And Lissa…well, Lissa couldn't exactly tell anyone about the additional element of spirit.

"Is Ms. Carmack still teaching that? What she'd say about it?"

She looks at me sarcastically before rolling her eyes. "She says she's not worried. She thinks it'll come."

We let the subject drop.

We started moving again, scanning the tables as we decided where to sit. A few pairs of eyes looked up at us with blatant curiosity.

"Lissa!" came a nearby voice. Glancing over, we saw an energetic Natalie waving at us. Lissa and I exchanged looks. Natalie was sort of Lissa's cousin in the way Victor was sort of her uncle, but we'd never hung out with her all that much. She was too...bouncy.

Lissa shrugged and headed in that direction. _Why not?_

She really had to learn to stop communicating through the bond. Someone's bound to notice eventually.

I followed reluctantly. Natalie was nice but also one of the most uninteresting people I knew. Most royals at the school enjoyed a kind of celebrity status, but Natalie had never fit in with that crowd. She was too plain, too uninterested in the politics of the Academy, and too clueless to really navigate them anyway. This was both good and bad.

Natalie's friends eyed us with a quiet curiosity, but she didn't hold back. She threw her arms around us as we stepped up to the table. Like Lissa, she had jade-green eyes (only slightly lighter), but her hair was jet black, like Victor's had been before his disease greyed it.

"You're back! I knew you would be! Everyone said you were gone forever, but I never believed that. I knew you couldn't stay away. Why'd you go? There are so many stories about why you left!" Lissa and I exchanged glances as Natalie prattled on. "Camille said one of you got pregnant and went off to have an abortion, but I knew that couldn't be true. Someone else said you went off to hang out with Rose's mom, but I figured Ms. Kirova and Daddy…"

On and on and on she chatted, flashing her shiny white fangs as she spoke. I smiled politely, letting Lissa deal with the onslaught of words until Natalie asked a dangerous question.

"What did you guys do for blood?"

The table then quietened and those around regarded us questioningly. Lissa froze, but I immediately jumped in, the lie coming effortlessly to my lips.

"Oh, it's easy. There are a lot of humans who want to do it."

"Really?" asked one of Natalie's friends, wide-eyed.

"Yup. You find 'em at parties and stuff. They're all looking for a fix from something, and they don't really get that a vampire's doing it: most are already so wasted they don't remember it anyway. And if that's not an option you have the bums on the street that are already so drugged that they don't even blink at a vamp chompin' on their neck." I then simply shrugged in as cool and confident a way as I could manage. It wasn't like any of them knew any better. "Like I said, it's easy."

Natalie accepted this and then launched into some other topic. Lissa shot me a grateful look. It wasn't a full lie though. Whenever I spent the first few days clearing the new areas of strigoi we had to find...alternative blood sources...from unreliable people.

Ignoring the conversation again, I took in the old faces. Mason, who was sitting with a group of novices, caught my eye and I smiled. Near him, a group of Moroi royals sat, laughing over something. Aaron and the small, blond girl sat there too.

"Hey, Natalie," I said, turning around and cutting her off. She didn't seem to notice. "Who's Aaron's new girl?"

"Huh? Oh. Mia Rinaldi." Seeing my blank look, she asked, "Don't you remember her? Like, at all?"

"Should I? Was she here when we left?"

"She's always been here," said Natalie. "She's only a year younger than us."

I shot a questioning look at Lissa, who only shrugged. _No idea either_ she told me, once again communicating through the bond. It was a habit she really needed to get out of.

"Why's she so pissed at us?" I asked. "Neither of us even know her."

"I don't know," answered Natalie. "Maybe she's jealous about Aaron. She wasn't really anybody before you guys left. She got really popular really fast once she started dating Aaron, though. She isn't royal or anything —"

"Okay, thanks," I interrupted. "I don't really—"

My eyes lifted up from Natalie's face just in time to see Jesse Zeklos just as he passed by our table. Ah, Jesse. I'd forgotten all about him. I liked flirting with Mason and some of the other novices, but Jesse was put in an entirely different category. I flirted with the other guys simply for the sake of flirting. You flirted with Jesse in the hopes of getting at least a bit naked with him. He was a royal Moroi, and he was so hot, he should have worn a 'warning: flammable' sign. He met my eyes and grinned.

"Hey Rose, welcome back. You still breaking hearts?"

"Are you volunteering yours?"

His grin widened. "Let's hang out sometime and find out. If you ever get parole."

He kept walking, and I watched him (and his nice ass) admiringly. I did a quick mental check to make sure I wasn't drooling – I wasn't. Natalie and her friends stared at me in awe. I might not be a god in the Dimitri sense, but within this group, Lissa and I were gods of another nature.

"Oh my gawd," exclaimed one girl. I didn't remember her name. "That was _Jesse_."

"Yes," I said, smiling. "It certainly was."

"I wish I looked like you," she added with a sigh.

Their eyes fell on me. Technically, I was half-Moroi, but my looks were pure human. I'd blended in well with humans during our time away, so much so that I'd barely thought about my appearance at all (though it was still good by human standards). Here, among the slim and small-chested Moroi girls, certain features—meaning my larger breasts and more defined hips—stood out. I knew I was pretty, but to Moroi boys, my body was more than just pretty: it was sexy in a risqué way. Dhampirs were an exotic conquest, a novelty all Moroi guys wanted to "try."

It was ironic that dhampirs had such an allure here, because slender Moroi girls looked very much like the super-skinny runway models so popular in the human world. Most humans could never reach that "ideal" skinniness, just as Moroi girls could never look like me. Everyone wanted what she couldn't have.

Lissa and I thankfully got to sit together in our shared afternoon classes but didn't do much talking. At least out loud and with so many words. The stares she'd mentioned certainly did follow us, but I found that the more I talked to people, the more they warmed up. Slowly and gradually they seemed to remember who we were, and the novelty—though not the intrigue—of our crazy stunt wore off.

Or maybe I should say, they remembered who I was as I was the only one talking. Lissa stared straight ahead, listening but neither acknowledging nor participating in my attempts at conversation. I could feel anxiety and sadness pouring out of her.

"All right," I told her when classes finally ended. We stood outside the school, and I was fully aware that in doing so, I was already breaking the terms of my 'agreement' with Kirova. "We're not staying here," I told her. "I'm going to find a way to get us out."

"You think we could really do it a second time?" Lissa asked quietly.

"Absolutely." I spoke with certainty, again relieved she couldn't read my feelings. Escaping the first time had been tricky enough. Doing it again would be a real bitch, not that I couldn't still find a way especially with spirit and my darkness to aid us if needed.

"You really would, wouldn't you?" She smiled, more to herself than to me. "Of course you would. It's just, well. . ." She sighed. "I don't know if we should go. Maybe—just maybe we should stay."

I blinked in astonishment. "What?" Not one of my more eloquent answers, but the best I could manage. I'd never expected this from her. Especially after feeling her fear earlier.

"I saw you, Rose. I saw you talking to the other novices during class, talking about practice. You miss it."

"It's not worth it," I argued. "Not if…not if you…" I couldn't finish. She'd read me to easy. I really had missed the other novices. Even some of the Moroi (cough, Jesse, cough). But there was more to it than just that. It was the possibility of learning more, becoming better than what I was. Relinquishing the dependence I had on the darkness when it came to fighting strigoi and protecting her life.

"It might be better," she said, sensing my hesitation. "I haven't had as many…you know, things happening in a while. I don't feel like anyone is following or watching us."

I didn't say anything to that. Before we'd left the Academy, she'd always felt like someone was following her, like she was being hunted. I'd never seen evidence to support that, but I had once heard one of our teachers go on and on about the same sort of thing. Ms. Karp. She'd been a pretty Moroi, with deep auburn air and high cheekbones. And I was pretty sure she'd been crazy. At least until I realised what I was seeing was not crazy, but darkness growing on a spirit user without a bond mate to take it away.

"You never know who's watching," she used to say, walking briskly around the classroom as she shut all the blinds. "Or who's following you. Best to be safe. Best to always be safe." We'd snickered amongst ourselves because that's what students do around eccentric and paranoid teachers. The thought of Lissa acting like her always bothered me. It was no way to live. No matter what it does to me I'll always take the darkness away.

"What's wrong?" Lissa asked, noticing that I was lost in thought.

"Huh? Nothing. Just thinking." I sighed, trying to balance my own wants with what was best for her. "Liss, I guess we can stay…but, there are a few conditions."

This made her laugh.

"I'm serious." Words I didn't say very much, if at all. "I want you to stay away from the royals. Not like Natalie or anything but the power players. You know who I'm talking about."

Her amusement turned to astonishment in a second. "Are you serious?"

"Sure. You never liked them anyway."

"You did."

"Not really. I liked what they could offer. All the parties and stuff."

"And you can go without that now?" She looked sceptical.

"Sure. We did in Portland and all the places before that."

"What about the clubs you went to while hunting strigoi?"

"That was business, not pleasure." I smirk at her. Though, of course, I had to...blend in at times.

Her eyes wandered off, not really focused on any one thing. "Here… here I've got to be a part of that. I can't avoid it."

"The hell you do. Natalie stays out of that stuff."

"Natalie isn't going to inherit her family's title," she retorted. "I've already got it. I've got to be involved, start making connections and all that. My brother—"

"Liss," I groaned, starting to get a headache. "You aren't Andre." I couldn't believe she was still comparing herself to her brother.

"He was always involved in all that stuff."

"Yeah, well," I snapped back, "he's dead now."

Her face hardened. "You know, sometimes you aren't very nice."

"You don't keep me around to be nice. If you want nice, there are a dozen following sheep in there that would eagerly rip each other's throats out to get in good with the 'Dragomir princess'. You keep me around to tell you the truth, and here it is: Andre's dead. You're the heir now, and you're going to deal with it however you can. And for now, that means staying away from the other royals and staying safe. We'll just lie low. Coast through the middle and so on."

She sighed and touched my arm."Fine. We'll stay and we'll keep out of all that stuff. We'll 'coast through the middle' like you want. Hang out with Natalie, I guess."

To be perfectly honest, I didn't want any of that either (she made her distaste clearly shown through the bond). I wanted to go to all the royal parties and the wild festivities. However we'd only started going to them after our, well Lissa's, family died. Andre should have been the one to inherit her family's title, and he'd certainly acted like it. Handsome and outgoing, he'd charmed everyone he knew and had been a leader in all the royal cliques and clubs that existed on campus. After his death, Lissa had felt it was her family duty to take his place – therefore the parties.

I'd gotten to join that world with her. It was easy for me, because I didn't really have to deal with the politics of it. I was just a pretty dhampir, one who didn't mind getting into trouble and pulling crazy stunts. I became a novelty; they liked having me around for the thrill of it. At the time I didn't realise my deep desire to just live was caused by already having died.

Lissa had to deal with other matters, of course. The Dragomir's being one of the twelve ruling families. She'd have a very powerful place in Moroi society once she graduated and turned eighteen, and the other young royals wanted to get in good with her. Fake friends tried to schmooze her and the other royals could bribe and backstab in the same breath.

This cruel culture had eventually taken its toll on Lissa. She had an open, kind nature, one that I loved, and I hated to see her upset and stressed by silly royal games. She'd grown fragile since the accident, and all the parties and fun times in the world weren't worth seeing her hurt.

"All right then," I said finally. "We'll see how this goes. If anything goes wrong, anything at all, we leave. No arguments whatsoever. Are we clear?"

She nodded.

"Rose?"

We both looked up at Dimitri's towering form. I hoped he hadn't heard the part about us leaving.

"You're late for practice," he said evenly. Seeing Lissa, he gave a polite nod."Princess."

As he and I walked away from her and towards the gymn, I worried about Lissa and wondered if staying here was the right thing to do.

I felt nothing alarming through the bond as I kept walking, but then her emotions began to spike all over the place. Confusion. Nostalgia. Fear. Strong and powerful, they flooded into me, and I felt the pull just before it happened. It was exactly like what had happened on the plane. Her emotions grew so strong that they 'sucked' me into her head before I could stop them. I had thought we were getting better at this.

She walked slowly around the commons, toward the small Russian Orthodox chapel that served the school's religious needs. Lissa had always attended mass regularly where as I had a simple, standing arrangement with God: I'd agree to believe in him—just—so long as he let me have a well deserved sleep in on Sundays.

But as she went inside, I could feel that she wasn't there to pray. She had another purpose, one I didn't know anything about. Glancing around, she verified that neither the priest nor any worshippers were close by. The place was empty. This pleased her. And this, of course, confused me.

Slipping through a doorway in the back of the chapel, she climbed a narrow set of creaky stairs up into the attic. Here it was dark and dusty with the only light being what came through a large stained-glass window that fractured the faint glow of sunrise into tiny, multicoloured gems across the old, worn floor.

I hadn't known until that moment that this room was a regular retreat for Lissa. But now I could feel it, sense her memories of how she used to escape here to be alone and to think. The familiarity of the place. I felt the anxiety in her ebb away ever so slightly as she took in her surroundings and part of her darkness slowly began to seep into me, due to our connection as per usual. She relaxed even more as she climbed up into the window seat and leaned her head back against its side, entranced by the calm silence and the light.

Moroi could stand some sunlight, unlike the Strigoi, but they had to limit their exposure. Sitting here, she could almost pretend she was in the sun, protected by the multicoloured glass.

 _Breathe, just breathe_ , she told herself. _It'll be okay. Rose will take care of everything. She always does._

She believed that passionately, like always, and it helped her relax further.

"You can have the Academy but not my window seat."

She sprang up, heart pounding as a voice cut through the silence. I shared her anxiety, and my own pulse quickened. "Who's there?"

A moment later, a shape rose from behind a stack of broken wooden crates, just outside her field of vision. The figure stepped forward, and in the poor lighting, familiar features materialized. Messy black hair. Pale blue eyes. A perpetually sardonic smirk.

Christian Ozera.

"Don't worry," he said. "I won't bite. Well, at least not in the way you're afraid of." He chuckled at his own joke. Though, it was in poor taste.

Lissa didn't find it funny either. She had completely forgotten about Christian in our time away and so had I.

No matter what happened in our world, a few basic truths about vampires remained the same. Moroi were alive; Strigoi were undead. Moroi were mortal; Strigoi were immortal. Moroi were born; Strigoi were made. And Moroi were good; Strigoi were evil.

There were two ways to make a Strigoi. Strigoi could forcibly turn humans, dhampirs, or Moroi with a single bite. Or, Moroi tempted by the promise of immortality could become Strigoi by choice if they purposely killed another person while feeding. Doing that was considered dark and twisted, the greatest of all sins. Moroi who chose this dark path, although gaining eternal life, lost their ability to connect with elemental magic and other powers of the world. That was why they could no longer go into the sun.

That is what had happened to Christian's parents. They are Strigoi.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!**

 **Chapter Five**

Or rather, they had been Strigoi. A bunch of guardians had hunted them down and killed them shortly after their transformation. If rumours were true, Christian had witnessed it all when he was still a very young boy. And, although he wasn't Strigoi himself, some people thought he wasn't far off. It didn't help that he always wore black and kept to himself.

However, strigoi or not, I didn't trust him. He was a still brooding jerk, and I silently screamed at Lissa to get out of there—not that my screaming did much good. Stupid one-way bond. Once she gets away from the creep we're going to work more on correcting that.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, surprised.

"Taking in the sights, of course. That chair with the tarp on it is particularly lovely during this time of year. Over there, we have an old box full of the writings of the blessed (and highly crazy) St. Vladimir himself. And let's not forget that beautiful table with no legs in the corner."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and moved toward the door, wanting to leave, but he blocked her way. Asshat.

"Well? What about you?" he taunted. "Why are you up here? Don't you have parties to go to or innocent lives to destroy?"

Some of Lissa's old spark returned as the darkness riled up and I wasn't quick enough to grab it. "Wow, that's hilarious. Am I like a rite of passage now? Go and see if you can piss off Lissa to prove how cool you are? Some girl I don't even know screamed at me today, and now I've got to deal with you? What do I have to do to be left alone?"

"Oh. So that's why you're up here. For a pity party. How cute."

"This isn't a joke. I'm serious." I could tell Lissa was getting very angry. It was trumping her earlier distress. I guess Christian just had that effect on people.

He shrugged and leaned casually against the sloping wall. "So am I. I love pity parties. I wish I'd brought the hats. What do you want to mope about first? How it's going to take you a whole day to be popular and loved again? How you'll have to wait a couple weeks before you can get the new Prada shoes?"

"Let me leave," she demanded, this time forcefully pushing him aside.

"Wait," he said, as she reached the door. The sarcasm disappeared from his voice. "What…um, what was it like?"

"What was what like?" she snapped.

"Being out there. Away from the Academy."

She hesitated for a moment before answering, caught off guard by what seemed like a genuine attempt at conversation. "It was great. No one knew who I was. I was just another face. Not Moroi. Not royal. Not anything." She looked down at the floor. "Everyone here thinks they know who I am."

 _Oh, Lissa._ Why must you be so truthful all the time?

"Yeah. It's kind of hard to outlive your past," he said bitterly.

It occurred to Lissa at that moment—and me to by default—just how hard it might be to be Christian.

Most of the time, people treated him like he didn't exist. They didn't talk to, or about, him. They just didn't notice him. The stigma of his parents' crime was too strong, casting its shadow onto the entire Ozera family tree, despite its large numbers, and Christian had got the brunt of most of it.

Still, he'd pissed her off, and she wasn't about to feel sorry for him. Good girl.

"Wait—is this your pity party now?"

He laughed, almost approvingly. "This room has been my pity party for over a year now."

"Sorry," said Lissa sarcastically. "I was coming here before I left. I've got a longer claim."

"Squatters' rights. Besides, I have to make sure I stay near the chapel as much as possible so people know I haven't gone Strigoi…yet." Again, the bitter tone rang out.

"I used to always see you at Mass. Is that the only reason you go?" Strigoi couldn't enter holy ground. More of the 'us verse them' thing.

"Sure," he said. "Why else go? For the goodness of your soul?"

"Whatever," said Lissa, who clearly had a different opinion. "I'll leave you alone to sulk then."

"Wait," he said again. He didn't seem to want her to go. "I'll make you a deal. You can hang out here too _if_ you tell me one thing."

"What?" She glanced back at him.

He leaned forward. "Of all the rumours I heard about you guys today—and believe me, I heard plenty, even if no one actually told them to me—there was one that didn't come up very much. They dissected everything else: why you left, what you did out there, why you came back, blah, blah, blah. And in all of that no one, no one, ever questioned that stupid story that Rose told about there being all sorts of humans who let you take their blood. It's bullshit."

She looked away, and I could feel her cheeks starting to burn. "It's not stupid. Or a story." She was hesitant to swear.

He laughed softly. "I've lived with humans. My aunt and I stayed away after my parents…died. It's not that easy to find blood." When she didn't answer, he laughed again. "It was Rose, wasn't it? She fed you."

A renewed fear shot through both her and me. No one at school could know about that. I know Dimitri knew and I'm sure the guardians on the scene knew, but they'd kept that knowledge to themselves. Well, they might have told Kirova, but that's it.

"Well. If that's not friendship, I don't know what it is," he said.

"You can't tell anyone," she blurted out.

Oh, come on! This was all we needed. As I'd just been reminded, feeders were vampire-bite addicts. We accepted that as part of life but still looked down on them for it. For anyone else— especially a dhampir—letting a Moroi take blood from you was almost, well...dirty. In fact, one of the kinkiest, practically pornographic things a dhampir could do was let a Moroi drink blood during sex. Lissa and I hadn't had sex, of course, but we'd both known what others would think of me feeding her. But I still didn't want the school creep, or anyone else for that matter, to know about it.

"Don't tell anyone," Lissa repeated.

He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets and sat down on one of the crates. "Who am I going to tell? Look, go grab the window seat. You can have it today and hang out for a while. If you're not still afraid of me."

She hesitated, studying him. He looked dark and surly, lips curled in a sort of I'm-such-a-rebel smirk. But he didn't look too dangerous (to her). He didn't look Strigoi. So, gingerly, she sat back down in the window seat, unconsciously rubbing her arms against the cold.

Christian watched her, and a moment later, the air warmed up considerably.

Lissa met Christian's eyes and smiled, surprised she'd never noticed how icy blue they were before.

"You specialized in fire?"

Who could have seen that coming?

He nodded and pulled up a broken chair. "Now we have luxury accommodations."

I snapped out of the vision.

"Rose? Rose?"

Blinking, I focused on Dimitri's face. He was leaning toward me, his hands gripping my shoulders firmly. I had stopped walking and we now stood in the middle of the quad separating the upper school buildings.

"Are you all right?"

"I…yeah. I was…I was with Lissa…" I put a hand to my forehead. "I was in her head."

"Her…head?"

"Yeah. It's part of the bond." I didn't really feel like elaborating and I only told him in case I blanked out during practice. I hated the infirmary and didn't want him to think I was constantly going into shock or having a seizure or something.

"Is she all right?"

"Yeah, she's…" I hesitated. Was she all right? Christian Ozera had just invited her to hang out with him. Not good. There was 'coasting through the middle,' and then there was 'turning to the dark side.' But the feelings humming through our bond were no longer scared or upset. She was almost content, though still a little nervous. "She's not in danger," I finally said. At least not at the moment.

"Can you keep going?"

The hard, stoic warrior I'd met earlier was gone—just for a moment—and he actually looked concerned. Truly concerned. Feeling his eyes on me like that made something flutter inside of me—which was stupid, of course. He was a teacher. An older teacher. I had no reason to get all giddy just because the man was too good-looking for his own good. After all, he was an antisocial god, according to Mason. One who was supposedly going to leave me in all sorts of pain.

Ha, bring it.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

I went into the gym's dressing room and changed into the workout clothes from my suitcase that someone had finally thought to give me after a day of sweating in my too small clothes. Gross.

I was about to suggest to Dimitri that maybe he should let me off this time as it was getting late and I had been on human schedule for two years but decided against it. I had to prove to him that even though I had run away it didn't mean I didn't take this seriously.

"How do you feel right now?" He asks, looking over me for any sense of fatigue or weakness, "After the training you've done so far?"

"I feel fine." And I did, aside from being a little sleepy.

He didn't seem to believe me (again) and led me into the weight room. He showed me the weights and reps he wanted me to do (please), and then sprawled in a corner with a battered Western novel. Some god.

When I finished, he stood beside me and demonstrated a few cool-down stretches (yawn).

"How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian?" I asked. "You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school?"

He didn't answer right away. I got the feeling he didn't talk about himself very often. "No. I attended the one in Siberia."

"Whoa. That's got to be the only place worse than our backwoods Montana."

A glint of something, maybe mild amusement, sparked in his eyes, but he didn't acknowledge the joke.

"After I graduated, I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently." His smile dropped, his face grew dark. "They sent me here because they needed extra guardians. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters unless she leaves the campus."

I thought about what he'd said before. Did the Strigoi kill the guy he was supposed to have been guarding? "Did this lord die on your watch?"

"No. He was with his other guardian at the time. I was away."

He fell silent, his mind obviously somewhere else. The Moroi expected a lot from us, but they did recognize that the guardians were—more or less anyway—only human. So, guardians got reasonable pay and time off like you'd get in any other job. Some hard-core guardians (like my mother) refused vacations, vowing never to leave their Moroi's sides even if it meant abandoning their own kid. Looking at Dimitri now, I had a feeling he might very well turn into one of those. If he'd been away on legitimate leave, he could hardly blame himself for what happened to that guy. Still, he probably did anyway. I'd blame myself too if something happened to Lissa and I wasn't there for her.

"Hey," I said, suddenly wanting to cheer him up, "did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that." And dumb luck that Lissa had just fed.

He arched an eyebrow curiously. I'd always wished I could do that. "You're actually complimenting me on that?"

"Yeah?" I frowned as something occurred to me. "Oh, by the way, how did you find us?"

"Pure coincidence, really."

I waited. "And..."

"We had been tracking Lissa's credit cards but we soon realised they only popped up just before you left an area and we could never figure out where you were heading." That was the intention. Sometimes we didn't find as much as we needed on the strigoi bodies and had to pull some cash from her family inheritance before we left an area just in case pickings were just as slim in the new area. "So we handed in your pictures to the human police – "

"Isn't that cheating?"

He ignored me.

" – and one of them saw you buying donuts at a coffee house in Portand. He then reported it back to us."

Seriously? That was how we had been caught? Lissa had always said that my love for donuts would be my downfall. Though I'm sure she meant that I'd one day die of heart failure from all the sugar.

She could never know about this, she'd never let me forget it.

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried." I could admit that, though the other one was a lot scarier.

"Last one?"

"Yeah. In Chicago .With the pack of psi-hounds."

"This was the first time we found you. In Portland ."

I sat up from my stretches and crossed my legs. "Um, no. I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else could have sent them? They only answer to the Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it."

"Maybe," he said dismissively. I could tell by his face he didn't believe that either.

I returned to the novices' dorm after that, running there, as I still felt energised. We had barely done anything at all in training.

The Moroi students lived on the other side of the quad, closer to the commons. The living arrangements were partly based on convenience. Being here kept us novices closer to the gym and training grounds. But we also lived separately to accommodate the differences in Moroi and Dhampir lifestyles. Their dorm had almost no windows and what windows they did have were tinted ones that dimmed sunlight. They also had a special section where feeders always stayed on hand at all hours. The novices' dorm was built in a more open way, allowing for more light.

I had my own room because there were so few novices, let alone girls. The room they'd given me was small and plain, with a twin bed and a rectangular desk with an old computer resting on top. My suitcase and my few belongings from Portland now sat in the corner of the room. I rummaged through them, checking for my silver stakes and then the diary where I kept a list of all my kills, before pulling out a T-shirt to sleep in. I also pulled out a few pictures that I had of me and Lissa and one special one I kept that was taken just before the accident of me and Lissa's whole family. I only kept the happy ones. The photos I took of the dead strigoi I had hunted were handed into Sydney so she could identify them and then they were deleted of my camera, any spare copies were also burned – I wanted nothing to do with those memories.

I set them on my desk and booted up the computer. Someone from tech support had helpfully given me a sheet with instructions for renewing my e-mail account and setting up a password. I did both, happy to discover no one had realized that this would serve as an easy way for me to communicate with Lissa. I might be able to hear her from any distance but, as discussed before, it was a little harder to do the other way around. Too tired to write to her now, I was about to turn everything off when I noticed I already had two messages. The first from Janine Hathaway. It was short (much like her stature): _I'm glad you're back. What you did was inexcusable._

"Love you too, Mom," I muttered. Bitch. Surprised she even bothered or even remembered I was gone.

The next was from Sydney, though she always used the name 'Iolanthe' when dealing with me across the internet or in letters in order to remain anonymous from the other alchemists. I wasn't sure why and she never told me. It read: _Found two more identities for #48 and #93. I'll let the families know. PS; I heard about your capture. Best of luck with whatever you choose to do. You know how to contact me if you want any assistance. PPS; A says hi._

I responded quickly, typing out my thanks and my gratitude that at least two more families could rest in peace now, knowing their loved one was no longer a monster. I also sent my regards back to Adrian ( _'Tell the Dream Stalker I say hi back')_ before shutting down and heading to bed.

I passed out before even hitting the pillow, and woke up the next morning with very little recognition of actually having any sleep at all. Lying there in bed, I reconsidered the perks of running away. Then I remembered my promise to make myself better for Lissa and forced myself to leave the warmth of my bed and get my ass to training.

My before-school practice with Dimitri was pretty much the same as last nights and I managed to get to all my subsequent classes on time. And, at lunch, I dragged Lissa away from Natalie's table early and gave her a Kirova-worthy lecture about Christian—particularly chastising her for letting him know about our blood arrangement. If that got out, it'd kill both of us socially and I didn't trust him not to tell.

"Why didn't you just compel him?"

Lissa had other concerns.

"You were in my head again?" she exclaimed."For that long?"

"I didn't do it on purpose," I argued. "It just happened. And that's not the point. How long did you hang out with him afterward?"

"Not that long. It was kind of…fun."

"Well, you can't do it again. If people find out you're hanging out with him, they'll crucify you." I eyed her warily. "You aren't, like, into him, are you?"

She scoffed. "No. Of course not.

"Good. Because if you're going to go after a guy, steal Aaron back." He was boring, yes, but safe. Just like Natalie. How come all the harmless people were so lame? Maybe that was the general definition of 'safe.'

She laughed. "Mia would claw my eyes out."

"We can take her. Besides, he deserves someone who doesn't shop at Gap Kids."

"Rose, you've got to stop saying things like that."

"I'm just saying what you're too nice to say."

"She's only a year younger," argued Lissa. Bu she then laughed. "I can't believe you think I'm the one who's going to get us in trouble."

Smiling as we strolled toward class, I gave her a sidelong glance. "Aaron does look pretty good though, huh?"

She smiled back and avoided my eyes."Yeah. Pretty good."

"Ooh. You see? You should go after him."

"Whatever. I'm fine being friends now."

"Friends who used to stick their tongues down each other's throats to play tonsil hockey."

She rolled her eyes.

"Fine." I let my teasing go. "Let Aaron stay in the nursery school. Just so long as you stay away from Christian. He's dangerous."

"You're overreacting. He's not going Strigoi."

"He's a bad influence."

She laughed. "You think I'm in danger of going Strigoi?"

She didn't wait for my answer, instead pushing ahead to open the door to our science class. Standing there, I uneasily replayed her words and then followed a moment later. When I did, I got to see royal power in action. A few guys—with giggling, watching girls—were messing with a gangly-looking Moroi. I didn't know him very well, but I knew he was poor and certainly not royal. A couple of his tormentors were air-magic users, and they'd blown the papers off his desk and were pushing them around the room on currents of air while the guy tried helplessly to catch them as they danced across the floor.

My instincts urged me to do something, maybe go smack one of the air users on the back of the head. But I couldn't pick a fight with everyone who annoyed me, and certainly not a group of royals—especially when Lissa needed to stay off their radar. So I could only give them a look of pure disgust as I walked to my desk. As I did, a hand caught my arm. Jesse.

"Hey," I said jokingly. Fortunately, he didn't appear to be participating in the torture session. Good. That would have decreased his attractiveness quite a bit. "Hands off the merchandise buddy."

He flashed me a smile but kept his hand on me. "Rose, tell Paul about the time you started the fight in Ms. Karp's class."

I cocked my head toward him, giving him a playful smile. "I started a lot of fights in her class."

"The one with the hermit crab .And the gerbil."

I laughed, recalling it."Oh yeah. It was a hamster though, I think. I just dropped it into the crab's tank, and they were both worked up from being so close to me, that they went at it."

Paul, a guy sitting nearby whom I didn't really know, chuckled too. He'd transferred last year, apparently, and hadn't heard of this. "Who won?"

I looked at Jesse quizzically. "I don't really remember. Do you?"

"No. I just remember Karp freaking out." He turned toward Paul. "Man, you should have seen this wack teacher we used to have. Used to think people were after her and would go off on stuff that didn't make any sense. She was nuts. Used to wander the campus while everyone slept."

I smiled tightly, like I thought it was funny. Instead, I thought back to Ms. Karp again. Jesse was right—she had wandered campus alone a lot when she still worked here. It was pretty creepy. I'd unexpectedly run into her once.

I'd been climbing out of my dorm window to go hang out with some people. It was after hours, and we were all supposed to be in our rooms, fast asleep. Such escape tactics were a regular practice for me. I was good at them. But I fell that time. I had a second-floor room, and I lost my grip about halfway down. Sensing the ground rush up toward me, I tried desperately to grab hold of something and slow my fall and the building's rough stone tore into my skin, causing cuts I was too preoccupied at the time to feel. I slammed into the grassy earth, back first, getting the wind knocked out of me.

"Bad form, Rosemarie. You should be more careful. Your instructors would be very disappointed."

Peering through the tangle of my hair, I saw Ms. Karp looking down at me, a bemused look on her face.

Pain, in the meantime, shot through every part of my body. It was humiliating.

Ignoring it as best I could, I clambered to my feet. Being in class with Crazy Karp while surrounded by other students was one thing. Standing outside alone with her was an entirely different matter. She always had an eerie, distracted gleam in her eye that made my skin break out in goose bumps.

There was also a high likelihood she'd drag me off to Kirova for a detention. Scarier still.

Instead, she just smiled and reached for my hands. I flinched but let her take them. She tsk'ed when she saw the scrapes. Tightening her grip on them, she frowned slightly. A tingle burned my skin, laced with a sort of pleasant buzz, and then the wounds closed up. I had a brief sense of dizziness and my temperature spiked. The blood then disappeared, as did the pain in the rest of my body.

Gasping, I jerked my hands away. I'd seen a lot of Moroi magic, but never anything like that. At least, not that I realised at the time.

"What…what did you do?"

She gave me that weird smile again. "Go back to your dorm, Rose. There are bad things out here. You never know what's following you."

I was still staring at my hands. "But…I...You..."

I looked back up at her and for the first time noticed scars on the sides of her forehead. Like nails had dug into the flesh there. She winked. "I won't tell on you if you don't tell on me."

I jumped back to the present, unsettled by the memory of that bizarre night. Jesse, in the meantime, was telling me about a party.

"You've got to slip your leash tonight. We're going up to that spot in the woods around eight thirty. Mark got some weed."

I sighed wistfully, regret replacing the chill I'd felt over the memory of Ms. Karp."Can't slip that leash. I'm with my Russian jailer." Plus, I really didn't need the extra worry. I already have Lissa's sanitary to worry about it; I didn't need any more brain cells disappearing from _my_ cranium.

He let go of my arm, looking disappointed, and ran a hand through his bronze-coloured hair. Yeah. Not being able to hang out with him was a damned shame. I really would have to fix that someday. "Can't you ever get off for good behaviour?" he joked.

I gave him what I knew was a seductive smile as I found my seat.

"Sure," I called over my shoulder."If I was ever good."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!**

 **Chapter Six**

As much as Lissa and Christian's meeting still bothered me, it gave me an idea the next day.

"Hey, Kirova—er, morning Ms. Kirova."I stood in the doorway of her office, not having bothered to make an appointment. I would only be a second anyway. She raised her eyes from some paperwork, clearly annoyed to see me.

 _Yeah, I love you too Miss Stroppy-Pants._

"Yes, Miss Hathaway?" She sighs.

"Does my house arrest mean I can't go to church?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You said that whenever I'm not in class or at practice, I have to stay in my room. But what about church on Sundays? I don't really think it's fair to keep me away from my, uh, religious…uh, needs."

She sighed again before pushing her reading glasses up to rest on the top of her head and pinching the bridge of her nose as if having a severe headache. "I wasn't aware you had any religious needs."

"I found Jesus while I was gone."

"Isn't your mother an atheist?" she asked, dropping her hand back onto the desk.

Huh. I had no idea.

"And my dad's probably Muslim. But I've moved on to my own religious path. You shouldn't keep me from it." Or away from Lissa, who with no doubt would be there every Sunday without fault.

She made a noise that sort of sounded like a snort. "No, Miss Hathaway, I should not. Very well. You may attend services on Sundays. Now get out."

The victory was short-lived, however, because church was every bit as lame-ass as I remembered when I attended a few days later. I did get to sit next to Lissa though, which made me feel like I was getting away with something. But, as Lissa always scolded me through the bond whenever I began to whisper to her or fidget, I mostly I just people-watched and day dreamed for the hour or so I was suck on the uncomfortable plank of wood we were forced to sit in.

Christian sat on the opposite side of the aisle, pretending to be just as holy as he'd said. As much as I didn't like him, his fake faith still made me smile. Dimitri sat in the back, his handsome face lined with dark shadows, and, like me, didn't take communion. Though, as thoughtful as he looked, I wondered if he even listened to the service. I tuned in and out as the service continued.

"Following God's path is never easy," the priest was saying. "Even St. Vladimir, this school's own patron saint, had a difficult time. He was so filled with spirit that people often flocked around him, enthralled just to listen and be in his presence. So great was his spirit, the old texts say, that he could heal the sick. Yet despite these gifts, many did not respect him. They mocked him, claiming he was misguided and confused."

Which was a nice way of saying Vladimir was insane. Everyone knew it. He was one of a limited handful of Moroi saints, so the priest liked to talk about him a lot. I'd heard all about him, many times over, before we left. Great. It looked like I had an eternity of Sundays to hear his story over and over again.

Maybe once I get this bond to work two-way I'll sing horrible 80's ballads and cheesy pop songs to Lissa through it to pass the time. Or we could play 'I spy.' Hell, we could gossip about boys (with visual aid). Anything to get rid of this mind-numbing boredom.

Though it is a pity people will never know the truth about the old guy. While away we'd put together the story and realised that St Vladimir, and Miss Karp too, were the same as Lissa; Spirit users who could heal. However, we also heard that they could do so much more. As much as reading through a bunch of dusty old books and researching a guy who died before the dawn of time bored me I had always wanted the opportunity to see what else Lissa could be capable of.

"…and so it was with shadow-kissed Anna."

And that's where I come in. I was 'Shadow-kissed' like Anna. It had been a while since I heard the stories, but I'd never forgotten them. I waited, hoping he'd continue and maybe tell me something I didn't remember but he'd already moved on to the next part of the service. The oh-so-exciting sermon was over.

Church concluded and, as much as I'd love to leave, I shook my head at Lissa as she turned to go. "Wait for me. I'll only be a second."

I pushed my way through the departing crowd, up to the front, where the priest was speaking with a few people. I waited impatiently while he finished up. Natalie was there as well, asking him about volunteer work she could do. Ugh. When she finished, she left, smiling at me as she passed.

The priest raised his eyebrows when he saw me. "Hello, Rose. It's nice to see you again."

"Yeah…you too," I said. "I heard you talking about Anna. About how she was 'shadow-kissed.' What does that mean exactly? And Spirit?"

He frowned. "I'm not entirely sure. They lived a very long time ago. It was often common to refer to people by titles that reflected some of their traits. It might have been a name given to make her sound fierce."

Suuuure...Well, it did, but that wasn't the reason she was given that title. "Oh. So who was she?"

This time his frown was disapproving rather than thoughtful. "I mentioned it a number of times."

"Oh. I must have, um, missed that part."

His disapproval grew, and he turned around. "Wait just a moment."

He disappeared through a door, the one Lissa had taken to the attic, and I considered fleeing but thought God might strike me down for abandoning a priest while he was trying to help me. Less than a minute later, the priest returned with a book.

He handed it to me. Moroi Saints.

"You can learn about them in here. The next time I see you, I'd like to hear what you've learned."

I scowled as I walked away. Great. Homework from the priest. At least it should have something useful in it, right? And I did want to know more.

I found Lissa in the chapel's entry way where I left her only she was talking to Aaron. She smiled as she spoke, and the feelings coming off her were happy, though clearly not infatuated.

"You're kidding," she exclaimed.

He shook his head, blushing lightly."Nope."

Seeing me wander over, she turned to me. "Rose, you're never going to believe this. You know Abby Badica? And Xander? Their guardian wants to resign. To marry another guardian."

Now this was exciting gossip. A scandal, really. "Seriously? Are they, like, going to run off together?"

She nodded. "They're buying a house. Going to get jobs with the humans, I guess."

I glanced at Aaron, who had suddenly turned shy, well shyer, with me there. "How are Abby and Xander dealing with that?"

"Okay. Embarrassed. They think it's stupid." Then he realized who he was speaking to. "Oh. I didn't mean—"

"Whatever." I gave him a tight smile. "It is stupid."

The rebellious part me of loved any story where people 'fought the system.' Only, in this case, they were fighting _my_ system, the one I'd been trained to believe in my entire life.

Dhampirs and Moroi had a strange arrangement. Dhampirs had originally been born from Moroi mixing with humans. Unfortunately, dhampirs couldn't reproduce with each other—or with humans. It was a weird genetic thingy. Dhampirs and full Moroi could have children together, and, through another genetic oddity, their kids came out as standard dhampirs, with half human genes, half vampire genes.

So, with Moroi being the only ones with whom dhampirs could reproduce, we had to stay close to them and intermingle with them. Likewise, it became important to us that the Moroi simply survived. Without them, our race was done. And with the way Strigoi loved picking off Moroi, their survival became a legitimate concern for us. Hence, the guardian system developed. Dhampirs couldn't work magic, but we made great warriors. We'd inherited enhanced senses and reflexes from our vampire genes and better strength and endurance from our human genes. We also weren't limited by a need for blood. Or had trouble with the sunlight.

Sure, our kind wasn't as powerful as the Strigoi, but we trained hard and the guardians did a kick-ass job at keeping Moroi safe. Most dhampirs felt it was worth risking their own lives to make sure our kind could still continue.

And, since Moroi usually wanted to have and raise pure Moroi children, you didn't find a lot of long-term Moroi-dhampir romances. Moroi didn't usually stick around to help out with their 'half-bred' kids, most of us being the product of quick affairs and flings. And you especially didn't find a lot of Moroi women hooking up with dhampir guys (though there was a rumour Miss Karp was seeing a guardian here at the school before she left). But plenty of young Moroi men liked fooling around with dhampir women, although those guys usually went on to marry Moroi women. That left a lot of single dhampir mothers, but we were tough and could handle it. Or, they were like my mother and kept on being full time guardians, simply deciding to not handle it at all, and giving the responsibility of raising their children to someone else.

Practically straight after I'd been born, my mother had handed me over to be raised by the Academy. I could see, in a way, why she did it of course. But she could at least call or email every once in a while and give a crap about my life. Even Sydney, who hated me in the first several months, as I was an 'evil creature of the night,' emailed me more often at the beginning. In fact, Sydney had contacted me more in the first month of our 'friendship' than my mother had since she dumped me off here.

Those women who do raise their kids fully sometimes worked 'regular' jobs with Moroi or humans; some of them lived together in communities. These communities had a bad reputation. I don't know how much of it was true, but rumours said Moroi men visited all the time for sex and that some dhampir women let them drink blood while doing it, so called Blood whores.

Regardless, almost all guardians were men, which meant there were a lot more Moroi than guardians. Most of the dhampir guys accepted that they wouldn't have kids. They knew it was their job to protect Moroi while their sisters and cousins had the babies. Quite sexist, but what can you do?

Between her example and my life at the Academy, I believed wholeheartedly that it was a Dhampir's job to protect Moroi. It was part of our heritage, and it was the only way we'd keep going. It was that simple.

And that was what made what the Badicas' guardian had done so shocking. He'd abandoned his Moroi and run off with another guardian, which meant she'd abandoned her Moroi as well. They couldn't even have children together, and now two families were unprotected. What was the point? No one cared if teenage dhampirs dated or if adult dhampirs had flings. But a long-term relationship? Particularly one that involved them running away? A complete waste. And an utter disgrace.

After a little more convocation on the Badicas, Lissa and I left Aaron.

As we stepped outside, I heard a funny shifting sound and then something sliding. Too late, I realized what was happening, just as a pile of snow slid off the chapel's roof and onto us. It was early October, and we'd had an early fall last night that had started melting almost instantly. As a result, the stuff that fell on us was very wet and very cold.

Lissa took the brunt of it, but I still jumped as icy water landed on my hair and neck. A few others squealed nearby too, having caught the edge of the mini-avalanche.

"You okay?" I asked her. Her coat was drenched, and her platinum hair clung to the sides of her face. If her hair was looking that bad, I seriously didn't want to be anywhere _near_ any reflective surfaces to see mine.

"Y-yeah," she said through chattering teeth.

I pulled off my coat and handed it to her, glad I had chosen a high neck top that morning. The coat had a slick surface and had repelled most of the water and would warm her up quickly.

"Take yours off."

"But you'll be cold."

I just stared at her and held out my coat in front of her, showing her I wasn't going to back down.

She then quickly did as I asked and, as she slipped on my coat, I finally tuned in toward the laughter that always follows these situations but I avoided the eyes. Instead I focused on holding Lissa's wet jacket while she changed.

"Wish you hadn't been wearing a coat, Rose," said Ralf Sarcozy, an unusually bulky and plump Moroi. He was also a stupid idiot who believed it was funny to bully the unfortunate. I hated him. "That shirt would have looked good wet."

"That shirt's so ugly it should be burned. Did you get it from a homeless person?"

I glanced up as Mia walked over and looped her arm through Aaron's. Her blond curls were arranged perfectly, and she had on an awesome pair of black heels that would have looked so much better on me. At least they made her look taller, I'd give her that. Aaron had been a few steps behind us but had miraculously avoided being nailed by the slush. Seeing how smug she looked, I decided there'd been no miracles involved.

"I suppose you want to offer to burn it, huh?" I asked, refusing to let her know how much that insult bugged me. I knew perfectly well my fashion sense had slipped over the last two years. "Oh, wait—fire isn't your element, is it? You work with water. What a coincidence that a bunch just fell on us."

Mia looked as if she'd been insulted, but the gleam in her eyes showed me that she was enjoying this way too much to be an innocent bystander. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing to me. But I'm sure Ms. Kirova will probably have something to say when she finds out you used magic against another student."

"That wasn't an attack," she scoffed. "And it wasn't me. It was an act of God."

A few others laughed, much to her delight. In my imagination, I responded with 'So is this,' and then slammed her head into the side of the church using all the darkness that had arose within me since she had showed her smug face. But, alas, in real life, Lissa simply nudged me and said, "Let's go."

She and I walked off toward our respective dorms, leaving behind laughter and jokes about our wet states and how Lissa wouldn't ever specialize. Inside, I seethed. I had to do something about Mia, I realized. In addition to the general irritation of Mia's bitchiness, I didn't want Lissa to have to deal with any more stress than she had to. We'd been okay this first week, and I wanted to keep it that way.

That bitch was going down.

Maybe I could ask Sydney, she'd know how to make that bitch pay without me getting caught. She can be incredibly sneaky when she wants to be. She also has an eye for detail and a level head – traits I did not have. Then again...

"You know," I said, "I'm thinking more and more that you stealing Aaron back is a good thing. It'll teach the Bitch Doll a lesson. I bet it'd be easy, too. He's still crazy about you."

"I don't want to teach anyone a lesson," said Lissa. "And I'm not crazy about him."

"Come on, she picks fights and talks about us behind our backs. She accused me of getting jeans from the Salvation Army yesterday."

"Your jeans are from the Salvation Army."

"Well, yeah," I snorted, "but she has no right making fun of them when she's wearing stuff from Target."

"There's nothing wrong with Target. I like Target."

"So do I. But that's not the point. She's trying to pass her stuff off like its freaking Stella McCartney."

"And that's a crime?"

I gave her my best serious face."Absolutely. You gotta take revenge."

"I told you, I'm not interested in revenge." Lissa cut me a sidelong look. "And you shouldn't be either."

I smiled as innocently as I could, and when we parted ways, I felt relieved again that she couldn't read my thoughts.

Sydney it was.

"So when's the big catfight going to happen?"

Mason was waiting for me outside our dorm after I'd parted ways with Lissa. He looked lazy and cute, leaning against the wall with crossed arms as he watched me approach.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," I say as I flip my hair over my shoulder.

He unfolded himself and walked with me into the building, handing me his coat, since I'd let Lissa go off with my dry one. "I saw you guys sparring outside the chapel. Have you no respect for the house of God?"

I snorted. "You've got about as much respect for it as I do, you heathen. You didn't even go. Besides, as you said, we were outside."

"And you still didn't answer the question."

I just grinned and slipped on his warm coat.

We stood in the common area of our dorm, a well-supervised lounge and study area where male and female students could mingle, along with the few Moroi guests who come to visit. Being Sunday, it was pretty crowded with those cramming for last-minute assignments due tomorrow. Spying a small, empty table, I grabbed Mason's arm and pulled him toward it.

"Aren't you supposed to go straight to your dungeon?"

I flopped down into my seat, glancing around warily. "There are so many people here today it'll take them a while to notice me. God, I'm so sick of being locked away. And it's only been a week. I'm beginning to hallucinate already and am seeing bars on the windows."

"I'm sick of it too. We missed you last night. A bunch of us went and shot pool in the rec room. Eddie was on fire."

I groaned. "Don't tell me that. I don't want to hear about your glamorous social life. And if you continue to do so I might just have to show you my inner frustrations during practice tomorrow."

"All right, wow." He dropped his elbow up on the table and rested his chin in his hand. "Then tell me about Mia. You're just going to turn around and sock her one day, aren't you? I think I remember you doing that at least ten times with other people that pissed you off."

"I'm a new, reformed Rose," I said, doing my best impression of innocent, which wasn't very good judging by the choking sort of laugh he emitted. "Besides, if I do that, I'll have broken my probation. Gotta walk the straight and narrow. At least for a while."

"In other words, find some way to get back at Mia that you won't get in trouble for."

I felt a smile tug at the corners of my lips. "You know what I like about you, Mase? You think just like I do."

"Frightening concept," he replied drily. "So tell me what you think of this: I might know something about her, but I probably shouldn't tell you…"

I smile. I might not need to ask Sydney for ideas after all.

I leaned forward eagerly. "Oh, you already tipped me off. You've got to tell me now."

"It'd be wrong," he teased. "How do I know you'd use this knowledge for good instead of evil?"

I batted my eyelashes. "Can you resist this face?"

He took a moment to study me. "No. I can't, actually. Okay, here you go: Mia isn't royal."

I slouched back in my chair, disappointed. "No kidding. I already knew that. I've known who's royal since I was two."

"Yeah, but there's more than just that. Her parents work for one of the Drozdov lords." I waved my hand impatiently, urging him to hurry it up. A lot of Moroi worked out in the human world, but Moroi society had plenty of jobs for its own kind too. Someone had to fill them."Cleaning stuff. They're practically servants. Her dad cuts grass, and her mom's a maid."

I actually had a healthy respect for anyone who pulled a full day's work, regardless of the job. People everywhere had to do crappy stuff to make a living and someone had to do it. But, much like with Target, it became another matter altogether when someone was trying to pass herself off as something else. And in the week that I'd been here, I'd picked up on how desperately Mia wanted to fit in with the school's 'elite.'

"No one knows," I said thoughtfully.

"And she doesn't want them to. You know how the royals are." He paused. "Well, except for Lissa, of course. They'd give Mia a shit over it."

"How do you know all this?"

"My uncle's a guardian for the Drozdovs."

"And you've just been sitting on this juicy secret, huh?"

"Until you broke my silence with severe torture. So which path will you choose: good or evil?"

"I think I'll give her a grace—"

"Miss Hathaway, you know you aren't supposed to be here."

One of the dorm matrons stood over us, disapproval all over her face.

I hadn't been joking when I said Mason thought like me. He could bullshit as well as I could. "We have a group project to do for our humanities class. How are we supposed to do it if Rose is in isolation?"

The matron narrowed her eyes. "You don't look like you're doing work."

I slid over the priest's book and opened it at random. I'd placed it on the table when we sat down. Luckily it hadn't gotten too wet from all the snow that had poured down on us.

"We're, um, working on this."

She still looked suspicious. "One hour. I'll give you one more hour down here, and I'd better actually see you working."

"Yes, ma'am," said Mason straight-faced."Absolutely."

She wandered off, still eyeing us. "My hero," I declared.

He pointed at the book. "What is this?"

"Something the priest gave me. I had a question about the service."

He stared at me, astonished.

"Oh, stop it and look interested." I skimmed the index. "I'm trying to find some woman named Anna."

Mason slid his chair over so that he was sitting right beside me."All right. Let's 'study.'"

I found a page number, and it took me to the section on St. Vladimir, not surprisingly. We read through the chapter, scanning for Anna's name. When we found it, the author didn't have much to say about her.

He did include an excerpt written by some guy who had apparently lived at the same time as St. Vladimir and I scanned it for anything interesting:

 _And with Vladimir always is Anna...Their love is as chaste and pure as that of brother and sister, and many times has she defended him from Strigoi who would seek to destroy him and his holiness. Likewise, it is she who comforts him when the spirit becomes too much to bare...darkness tries to smother him and weaken his own health and body. This too she defends against, for they have been bound together ever since he saved her life as a child...one who is shadow-kissed and always knows what is in his heart and mind._

"There you go," Mason said. "She was his guardian."

"It doesn't say what 'shadow-kissed' means or what it entails."

"Probably doesn't mean anything."

I read it again, trying to make sense of the old-fashioned language.

Mason watched me curiously, looking like he very much wanted to help, even if he didn't understand what this was all about.

"Maybe they were hooking up," he suggested.

I laughed. "He was a saint."

"So? Saints probably like sex too. That 'brother and sister' stuff is probably just a cover." He pointed to one of the lines. "See? They were 'bound' together." He winked. "It's code."

Bound. Like me and Lissa. It was a weird word choice, but I guessed it worked. And there was no way Anna and Vladimir were ripping each other's clothes off. That would just be awkward. With all the hyped up emotions Anna would have felt what it was like to...ugh. Not going there.

"I don't think so. They're just close. Guys and girls can just be friends, you know?" I said it pointedly, and he gave me a dry look.

"Yeah? We're friends, and I don't know what's in your 'heart and mind.'" Mason put on a fake philosopher's look. "Of course, some might argue that one can never truly know what's in the mind and heart of a woman—"

"Oh, shut up," I groaned, punching him in the arm.

"For they are strange and mysterious creatures," he continued in his scholarly voice, "and a man must be a mind reader if he ever wishes to make them happy."

I started giggling uncontrollably and knew I'd probably get in trouble again. "Well, try to read my mind and stop being such a—"

I stopped laughing and looked back down at the book.

This was it. That was all they had.

There were no more answers here for me. Nothing to tell me it was all going to be alright. After all, look at what happened to St. Vladimir. Look at what happened to Miss Karp.

A more disturbing thought then entered my head. When I die, because one day I will and it will probably be sooner rather than later, I would no longer be able to take away the darkness and Lissa would face a much more horrible fate than death. I couldn't let that happen.

Mason had noticed my startled reaction. "You okay? You look kind of weird."

I shrugged it off."Yeah. I'm Fine."

There had to be _something_ to help!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!**

IMPORTANT AN: Ok, there have been some reviews that say that I have been copying the book too much and yada yada. I was wondering if you all felt that way or if you like it in there (I do try and cut it down though). I myself haven't read the books in a while, mostly sticking to other fan fictions based on the series. These sometime change different things about the story and the characters within them so I just wanted to revise on the facts.  
If you believe it would be best for me to remove the explanations from the earlier chapters just let me know.  
There will be less as the story continues and changes.

 **Chapter Seven**

A couple weeks passed after that safely, and I slowly put my worries behind me as life at the Academy wrapped around me. The shock of our return had finally worn off, and Lissa and I began to fall into a semi-comfortable routine. Unfortunately my days mostly revolved around school and training, and being denied any real free time, I didn't have too hard a time staying out of the spotlight. Although, I did manage to steal a little attention here and there. I couldn't help it. I liked flirting, big groups, and making smartass comments in class to boring teachers (Stan most of all after the stunt he pulled on my first day).

Lissa's new, quite role attracted attention simply because it was so different than before we'd left, but most people soon let that go, accepting that the Dragomir princess was fading off the social radar and was content to run with Natalie and her group. That girl's rambling still made me want to beat my head (or hers) against a wall sometimes, but she was still nice and I enjoyed hanging around her most of the time.

As more time passed, I grew progressively bored with just doing normal exercises and practising with a stake in the confines of my room. My muscles continued to grow though (I sneaked on more weights, ran that bit faster and stretched just that little further when Dimitri wasn't looking) and so did my stamina. I still also kicked ass in class. However, other than boredom with the simple routine, the only additional problem now seemed to be my skin. Being outside in the cold so much was drying out my face, and only Lissa's constant supply of skin-care lotions kept me from aging before my time. Lissa also helped with the blisters on my hands and feet, often subtly healing them (without my permission) on the occasions her hand brushed mine whenever we saw each other. I did think it was good use of spirit but she didn't think such small healings would matter, not even thinking for a second that all those little healings would add up.

A routine also developed with Dimitri and me. Mason had been right about him being antisocial. Dimitri didn't hang out much with the other guardians, though it was clear they all deeply respected him just as much as the students. And the more I worked with him, the more I respected him too, though I didn't really understand his training methods. They didn't seem very 'badass.'

It was three weeks after my return to the Academy that thing finally began to look up.

I walked into the gym before school and found him sprawled out on a mat, reading another cowboy book and listening to a crappy '80s song on a portable CD player that someone had brought in.

"Whoa, Dimitri," I said, tossing my bag on the floor. "I realize this is actually a current hit where you come from right now, but do you think we could maybe listen to something that wasn't recorded before I was born?"

Only his eyes flicked toward me; the rest of his posture remained the same. "What does it matter to you? I'm the one who's going to be listening to it. You'll be outside running."

"Ugh. Again."

I made a face as I stretched my hamstrings. All things considered, Dimitri had a good tolerance for my bitchiness. So long as I didn't slack in my training, he didn't mind my running commentary. In fact, at times, I saw him smiling at some of my remarks.

"Hey," I asked, moving on to the next set of stretches, "what's with all the running, anyway? I mean, I realize the importance of stamina and all that, but shouldn't I be moving on to something to do with actual fighting?"

He set the book down but didn't move from his sprawl. "My job is to get you ready to defend the princess and fight Strigoi, right?"

"Yup."

"So tell me this: suppose you manage to kidnap her again and take her off to the mall. While you're there, a Strigoi comes at you. What will you do?"

"Depends on what store we're in."

He looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Fine. I'll stab him with a silver stake. Duh."

Dimitri sat up now, crossing his long legs in one fluid motion. I still couldn't figure out how someone so gigantic could be so graceful. "Oh? Do you have a silver stake? Do you even know how to use one?"

Yes and Yes.

Only I couldn't tell him that, so I dragged my eyes away from his body and scowled. The blades are not only lethal to strigoi but to Moroi as well, so they weren't given out lightly to novices. My classmates had just started learning how to use them. Of course, I was still on probation.

Fortunately, there were two other ways to kill a Strigoi, so even if I couldn't tell him about my stake (well, stakes) I had those options.

"Okay. I'll cut his head off. Simple."

I sometimes carried a machete when I went out patrolling an area for the first time, just in case I lost my stakes. Again, not exactly something I could tell Dimitri. I have a feeling I'm supposed to fail this question.

"Ignoring the fact that you don't have a weapon to do that, how will you compensate for the fact that he may be a foot taller than you?"

 _My awesomeness?_

I straightened up from touching my toes, annoyed. "Fine," I say annoyed, "I'll set him on fire."

"Again, with what?"

I'd use the lighter and flask full of fuel I also carry around with me when going out. Usually I only use it to destroy the bodies at night in case Sydney is unable to make it, but it could also be used in a fight. And again, not exactly something I could tell Dimitri.

I'm sensing a pattern here...

"All right, I give up. You've already got the answer. You're just messing with me. I'm at the mall and I see a Strigoi. What do I do?"

He looked at me and didn't blink. "You run."

I repressed the urge to throw something at him. When I finished my stretches, he told me he'd run with me. That was a first. Maybe running would give me some insight into his killer reputation.

Maybe he travelled at the speed of light?

We set out into the chilly evening. Being back on a vampiric schedule still felt weird to me and with school about to start in an hour, I expected the sun to be coming up, not down.

As we ran we didn't speak, only kept a steady pace. Something about that bothered me however, and I suddenly very much wanted his approval. So I picked up my own pace, working my lungs and muscles harder. Twelve laps around the track made three miles; we had nine more to go.

When we reached the third last loop, a couple of other novices passed by, preparing to go to the group practice I'd soon be at as well. Seeing me, Mason cheered. "Good form, Rose!"

I smiled and waved back.

"You're slowing down," Dimitri snapped, jerking my gaze from the boys. The harshness in his voice startled me. "Is this why your times aren't getting any faster? You're easily distracted?"

Embarrassed, I increased my speed once more. Ha, take that Mr. Long Legs.

We finally finished the twelve laps, and when he checked, he found we'd shaved more than three minutes off my best time.

"Not bad, huh?" I said smugly when we headed back inside for cool-down stretches. "Looks like I could get pretty far. Not sure how Lissa would do, though."

"If she was with you, she'd be okay."

I looked up in surprise. It was the first real compliment he'd paid me since I started training with him (though I could tell he was impressed when I picked up my speed). His brown eyes watched me, both approving and amused.

And that's when it happened.

Sheer terror exploded in my body and in my head. Small razors of pain and fear attacked every vein. My vision blurred, and for a moment, I wasn't standing there. I was running down a flight of stairs, scared and desperate, needing to get out of there, needing to find…me.

My vision cleared, leaving me back on the track and out of Lissa's head. Without a word to Dimitri, I tore off, running as fast as I could toward the Moroi dorm. It didn't matter that I'd just put my legs through a mini-marathon, I could take it for Lissa. They ran hard and fast, like they were shiny and new. Distantly, I was aware of Dimitri trying to catch up to me, asking me what was wrong. But I couldn't answer him. I had allowed the darkness to spread into myself and was fully concentrating on getting my legs to work faster than they ever had. I had one task and one alone: get to Lissa.

Lissa came first. And always would.

Lissa soon came into view and met up with us, her face streaked with tears. I came to a jarring stop, my lungs ready to burst, and I rushed to stop the on flow of darkness.

"What's wrong? What happened?" I demanded, clutching her arms, forcing her to look into my eyes. I would look into her head myself, but I needed to remain calm for the both of us, not add on to the panic. But she couldn't answer. She just flung her arms around me, sobbing into my chest. I held her there, stroking her sleek, silky blonde hair while I told her it was going to be all right—whatever 'it' was. And honestly, I didn't care what it was just then. She was here, and she was safe, which was all that mattered to me. The world could be ending and it would be all ok. Dimitri just hovered over us, alert and ready for any threat, his body coiled to attack. It felt safer with him beside us, allowing me to be fully there for Lissa, knowing he was there in case anything came to attack us.

A half hour later, we were crammed inside Lissa's dorm room with three other guardians, Ms. Kirova, and the hall matron. This was the first time I'd seen Lissa's new room. You could clearly see that Natalie had indeed managed to get her as a roommate and you could clearly see which side was hers and which was Lissa's. Natalie's looked lived in, with pictures on the wall and a frilly bedspread that wasn't exactly dorm-issue. Lissa had as few possessions as I did, making her half noticeably bare. However she did have one picture taped carefully to the wall, a picture taken from last Halloween, when we'd dressed up like fairies, complete with the wings and glittery makeup. Seeing that picture and remembering how things used to be made a dull pain form in my chest. Recognising the tell tale shine of my 'wand' also made me long for my stakes.

Luckily with all the excitement, no one seemed to remember that I wasn't supposed to be in there. Outside in the hall, other Moroi girls crowded together with their phones, trying to figure out what was happening. Natalie pushed her way through them, wondering what the commotion in her room was. When she discovered it, she came to a screeching halt.

Shock and disgust showed on her face, just like it had on everyone else's, as she stared at Lissa's bed. There was a fox on the pillow. Its coat was reddish-orange and it looked so soft and cuddly that it could have been a pet, perhaps a cat, something you'd hold in your arms and snuggle with.

Aside from the fact that its throat had been slit.

The inside of the throat was gruesomely exposed and blood stained that soft coat, running down onto the pale yellow bedspread beneath, forming a dark pool that spread across the fabric. The fox's eyes stared upward, glazed, over with a sort of shocked look about them, like the fox couldn't believe this was all happening.

You and me both, buddy.

Even after all the death I had both witnessed, and more often caused, nausea still built up in my stomach as I forced myself to keep looking at the poor animal.

What had happened to the fox was sick and twisted, obviously done by someone too fucked up for words. Lissa stared at it, her face death-pale, and took a few steps toward it, hand involuntarily reaching out. This gross act hit her hard, I knew, digging at her great love of animals.

While on our own, she'd often begged me for a pet, but I'd always refused and reminded her we couldn't take care of one when we might have to flee at a moment's notice. Plus, they hated me. So she'd contented herself with helping and patching up strays she found and making friends with other people's pets. She also had to patch me up on occasion due to the amount of scratches the bloody things gave me if I got to close.

She couldn't patch this fox up, though. There was no coming back for it, but I saw in her face she wanted to help it, like she helped everything. I gripped her hand tightly and steered her away, once again recalling a conversation from two years ago.

 _"What is that? Is it a crow?"_

 _"Too big. It's a raven."_

 _"Is it dead?"_

 _"Yeah. Definitely dead. Don't touch it."_

She hadn't listened to me back then. I hoped she would now.

"It was still alive when I got back," Lissa whispered to me, clutching my arm."Barely. Oh God, it was twitching."

I felt bile rise in my throat. Under no circumstances would I throw up. "Did you—?"

"No. I wanted to…I started to…"

"Then forget about it," I said sharply. "It's stupid. Somebody's sick joke. They'll clean it up. Probably even give you a new room if you want."

She turned to me, her eyes wild. "Rose…do you remember…that one time…"

"Stop it," I said. "Forget about it. This isn't the same thing."

"What if someone saw? What if someone knows? I can't – "

I tightened my grip on her arm to get her attention. She flinched. "No. It's not the same. It has nothing to do with that. Do you hear me?" I could feel both Natalie and Dimitri's eyes on us but I ignored them.

"It's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay."

I began to take the darkness that had built up in her and store it away in the back of my mind to get rid of later. I could tell Lissa felt it leaving her as her face slowly relaxed and she almost seemed to sway on her feet.

Lissa nodded, putting her trust in me once again.

"Get this cleaned up," Kirova snapped to the matron. "And find out if anyone saw anything."

Someone finally realized I was there and ordered Dimitri to take me away, no matter how much I begged them to let me stay with Lissa. Or told them to move Lissa in with me.

He walked me back to the novices' dorm. He didn't speak until we were almost there. "You know something. Something about what happened. Is this what you meant when you told Headmistress Kirova that Lissa was in danger?"

"I don't know anything. It's just some sick joke."

"Do you have any idea who'd do it? Or why?"

I considered this. Before we'd left, it could have been any number of people. That was the way it was when you were popular. People loved you, people hated you. But now? The only person who really and truly despised her was Mia, but Mia seemed to fight her battles with words and petty disagreements, not actions. And even if she did decide to do something more aggressive, why do this? She didn't seem like the type. There were a million other ways to get back at a person. "No," I told him. "Not a clue."

"Rose, if you know something, tell me. We're on the same side. We both want to protect her. This is serious."

I spun around, taking my anger over the fox out on him. "Yeah, it is serious. It's all serious. And you have me doing laps every figgin' day when I should be being taught to fight and defend her! If you want to help her, then teach me! I already know how to run away."

I didn't realize until that moment how badly I wanted to prove myself to him, to Lissa, and to everyone else. The fox incident had made me feel powerless, and I didn't like that. Not even my darkness could get rid of it. I wanted to do something, anything. I was sick of hiding my skills in the shadows of my room it was time to show him what I could really do.

Dimitri watched my outburst calmly, with no change in his expression. When I finished, he simply beckoned me forward like I hadn't said anything. "Come on. You're late for school."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!  
(Especially to ****Kimavinzant, who you can thank for the somewhat speedy posting of this new chapter – also in reply to your comment, someone will spot her tattoos very soon. I'll update again asap - please don't die.)**

 **Chapter Eight**

Fuelled with darkness I fought harder I ever had in my combat class with the novices. So much so that I defeated several of my friends in less than 10 minutes in easy succession before then knocking out poor Shane Reyes after only 15 seconds of being paired together. After that I was very quickly reallocated and forced by the teacher (after he dropped Shane of at the office) to use one of the practice dummies to 'annihilate' instead of my fellow students.

"Wow, ok. That was...intense," observed Mason after class.

"Yeah. Guess so." The darkness still swirled in me. I had released a lot on the poor defenceless dummy (and, regrettably, my school mates) but I still had heaps left bottled up inside me. I had been collecting far too long. Maybe if I sneaked out and found some strigoi...no. Too risky. I can't leave Lissa. Especially after all that's happened.

Mase gently touched my arm. "How's Lissa?"

It didn't surprise me that he knew. Gossip spread so fast around here sometimes, it felt like everyone had a psychic bond not just me and Lissa.

"Okay. Considering." A train of thought came back to me. "Hey Mase, you claim to know about Mia. You think she could have done that?"

"Whoa, hey, I'm not an expert on her or anything. I don't have a doctorate on Miaology or anything. But honestly? No. Mia won't even do standard dissections in biology. I can't picture her actually catching a fox, let alone, um, killing it."

"Any friends who might do it for her?"

He shook his head. "Not really. They're not really the type to get their hands dirty either. But who knows?"

Lissa was still shaken when I met her for lunch later, her mood made worse when Natalie and her group wouldn't shut up about the fox. I began to drain Lissa of her darkness once again but couldn't get all of it as I felt my mind fill and my hands began to twitch. I knew that it wasn't a good sign. I had to get rid of this darkness. And soon.

"And it was just there," Natalie explained, waving her hands for emphasis."Right in the middle of the bed. There was blood everywhere."

Lissa looked as green as the sweater she wore, and I quickly pulled her away before I even finished my food (it was _that_ important) and immediately launched into an attack on Natalie's social skills.

"She's nice," Lissa said automatically correcting me. "You were just telling me the other day how you liked her."

"I do like her, but she's stupidly incompetent about certain things."

We stood outside our next class, and I noticed people staring and whispering as they passed. I sighed. Nosey bastards. The lot of em'.

"How are you doing with all this?"

A half-smile crossed her face. "Can't you tell?"

"Yeah, but I want to hear it from you."

"I'll be okay. I wish everyone wouldn't keep staring at me like I'm some kind of circus freak though."

My anger exploded again and I tried to stop myself from lashing out. The fox was bad. People upsetting her made it worse, but at least I could do something about them. "Who's bothering you?"

"Rose, you can't beat up everyone we have a problem with."

"Mia?" I guessed, already imagining tearing her apart.

Breathe in...Breathe out. It's the darkness. That's all it is. Control it.

"And others," she said evasively. "Look, it doesn't matter. What I want to know…that is, I can't stop thinking about that time—"

"Don't," I warned, holding up a hand and glancing around us.

She stared at me with those big green eyes and opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted.

"Hey, Rose."

Our conversation dropped as Jesse casually strolled up to us and I turned on my best smile.

"Hey."

He nodded to Lissa before turning his attention back on me. "So hey, I'm going to be in your dorm tonight for a study group. You think…maybe…"

I focused my full attention on Jesse. Suddenly, I so needed to do something wild and bad. Too much had happened today. "Sure."

He told me when he'd be there, and I told him I'd meet him in one of the common areas with "further instructions."

Lissa stared at me when he left. "You're under house arrest. They won't let you hang out and talk to him."

"I don't really want to 'talk' to him. We'll slip away."

She groaned. "I just don't know about you sometimes."

"That's because you're the cautious one, and I'm the reckless one."

Once Animal Behaviour started, I pondered the likelihood of Mia and her flock being responsible. From the smug look on her psycho-baby face, she certainly seemed to be enjoying the sensation caused by the bloody fox. But that didn't mean she was the culprit, and after observing her over the last couple of weeks, I knew she'd enjoy anything that upset Lissa and me. She didn't need to be the one who had actually done it.

"Wolves, like many other species..." _blah blah blah_. Ms. Meissner continued to drone on. Usually I'd have some interest in this class but today I had too much on my mind. Well, I did until Mia spoke up.

Mia raised her hand. "What about foxes? Do they have alphas too?"

There was a collective intake of breath from the class, followed by a few nervous giggles and whispers. No one could believe Mia had gone there.

Ms. Meissner flushed bright red with what I suspected was anger. Me and you both sister. I'm sure my face was a similar shade. "We're discussing wolves today, Miss Rinaldi. Not foxes."

Mia didn't seem to mind the subtle chastising, and when the class began to work on an assignment, she spent most of the time looking over at us and giggling. Through the bond, I could feel Lissa growing more and more upset as images of the poor fox kept flashing through her mind.

"Don't worry," I told her. "I've—"

"Hey, Lissa," someone interrupted.

We both looked up as Ralf Sarcozy stopped by our desks. He wore his trademark idiotic grin, and I had a gut feeling he'd only come over here because of a dare from his friends.

"So, admit it," he said. "You killed the fox. You're trying to convince Kirova that you're all kinds of crazy so that you can get out of here all over again."

"Screw you," I told him in a low voice, hoping the teacher wouldn't hear.

"Are you offering?" He asks, grinning wider.

"From what I've heard, there isn't much to screw," I shot back. I so badly wanted to hit him.

"Wow," he said mockingly. "You _have_ changed. Last I remembered, you weren't too picky about who you got naked with."

"And the last I remember, the only people you ever saw naked were on the Internet."

He cocked his head in an overly dramatic fashion. "Hey, I just got it: it was you, wasn't it?" He looked at Lissa, the back at me. "She got you to kill the fox, didn't she? Some weird kind of lesbian—ahhh!"

Ralf burst into flames.

I jumped up and pushed Lissa out of the way of the flames—not easy to do, since we were sitting at our desks – and we both ended up on the floor as screams filled the classroom and Ms. Meissner sprinted for the fire extinguisher.

Then, just like that, the flames disappeared. Ralf was still screaming and patting himself down like a mad man, but he didn't have a single burn mark on him. The only indication of what had happened was the lingering smell of smoke wafting in the air.

For several seconds, the entire classroom remained frozen. Then, slowly but surely, everyone put the pieces together. There were only three fire users: Ralf, his friend Jacob, and—

Christian Ozera.

Since neither Jacob nor Ralf would have set Ralf on fire, it sort of made the culprit obvious. The fact that Christian was laughing hysterically sort of gave it away too.

Ms. Meissner changed from red to deep purple. "Mr. Ozera!" she screamed. "How dare you—do you have any idea—report to Headmistress Kirova's office now!"

Christian, completely unfazed, stood up and slung his backpack over one shoulder. That smirk stayed on his face."Sure thing, Ms. M."

He went out of his way to walk past Ralf, who quickly backed up against the nearest wall as he passed. The rest of the class stared, open-mouthed. Unfortunately, as well as shock, I also felt something akin to awe but I quickly dismissed it. No matter how cool it was (or how much I had wanted to set Ralf on fire myself) using magic was definitely against the rules, especially against another student.

After that, Ms. Meissner attempted to return the class to normal, but it was a lost cause. No one could stop talking about what had happened. No one had ever seen that kind of spell before: fire that didn't actually burn anything. They also couldn't believe that Christian had used it offensively. He had attacked another person. Moroi never did that. They believed magic was meant to take care of the earth, to help people live better lives. All that rainbows and unicorns stuff. It was never, ever used as a weapon. Magic instructors never even taught those kinds of spells. I don't think they even knew any.

Christian, who disappeared into the shadows in his all black clothes and was never noticed, was certainly going to be noticed now. I knew for one that I was going to be keeping an eye on him. As much as I had enjoyed the look of terror on Ralf's face, it had suddenly occurred to me that Christian might truly be a psychopath.

"Liss," I said as we walked out of class, "please tell me you haven't hung out with him again."

The guilt that flickered through the bond told me more than any explanation could.

"Liss!"I grabbed her arm.

"Not that much," she said uneasily. "He's really okay—"

"Okay? Okay?" People in the hall stared at us. I realized I was practically shouting. "He's out of his mind. He set Ralf on fire. I thought we decided you weren't going to see him anymore."

"You decided, Rose. Not me." There was an edge in her voice I hadn't heard in a while. "And let go, you're hurting me."

I loosened my grip but didn't let go. "What's going on? Are you guys…you know?"

"No!" she insisted. "I told you that already. God." She shot me a look of disgust. "Not everyone thinks—and acts—like you."

I flinched at the words. She knew perfectly well I never went pass some heavy making out, but she made it out to be like I was some kind of slut who slept with anything that walked on two legs.

Mia then passed by, making everything worse. Again. She hadn't heard the conversation but had caught the tone. A snide smile spread over her face."Trouble in paradise?"

"Go suck your thumb somewhere else, and shut the hell up," I told her. Her mouth dropped open, then tightened into a scowl.

Lissa and I walked on in silence, and when we got out of sight Lissa burst out laughing. Like that, our fight diffused.

"Rose…" Her tone was softer now.

"Lissa, he's dangerous. I don't like him. Please be careful."

She touched my arm. "I am. I'm the cautious one, remember? You're the reckless one."

I hoped that was still true.

However, it wasn't until later that I truly had my doubts. I was in my room doing homework afterschool (Training with Dimitri was cancelled due to what happened this morning) when I felt a trickle of what could only be called sneakiness coming from Lissa. Losing what little interest I had in my work, I decided to check up on exactly what Dear Little Lissa was up to.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy (unfortunately) and have used its characters and general plot in order to create this story. I have also kept the same sort of structure as the original story and include some of the original lines, and I AM NOT taking credit for Richelle Mead's work. This is my take on how the story could have gone with hopefully a few more things expanded on and explained. I also wanted more involvement of spirit and a more badass Rose, so...here it is.**

 **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed!**

 **AN: Again, sorry for the delay. This one hasn't been edited as much as my other chapters but I hope all is ok. If not let me know.**

 **Chapter Nine**

I snapped into her mind, experiencing the world as she lived it.

She was sneaking into the chapel's attic again, which confirmed my worst fears. And, like last time, there was nothing there to stop her. Seriously? Could that priest be any worse at securing his own chapel? I thought they kept valuable stuff in churches?

Sunrise lit up the beautiful stained-glass window and Christian's dark silhouette was framed within it, causing a strong black shape among all those colours. I could tell Lissa felt attracted to the sight. There was something about him that Lissa felt so attracted to. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"You're late," he told her as if he knew she would come. Maybe he did. "I've been waiting a while."

Lissa pulled up one of the rickety chairs from against the wall to where Christian lent against the wall, brushing the dust off it. "I figured you'd be tied up with the Headmistress after you're little stunt."

He shook his head. "Not much to it. They suspended me for a week, that's about it. Not like it's hard to sneak out." He waved his hands around."As you can see."

"I'm surprised you didn't get more time."

A patch of sunlight lit up his crystal-blue eyes. "Disappointed?"

She looked shocked. Good girl. "You set someone on fire!"

"No, I didn't. Did you see any burns on him?"

"He was covered in flames from head to toe."

"I had them under control. I kept them off of him."

She sighed. "You still shouldn't have done that."

Straightening out of his lounging position, he leaned toward her. "I did it for you."

"You attacked someone for me?" No Lissa that is not flattering. That is psychotic. And creepy.

"Sure. He was giving you and Rose a hard time. She was doing an okay job – " _Excuse me?_ " – but I figured she could use the backup. Besides, this'll also shut anyone else up about the whole fox thing."

"You shouldn't have done it," she repeated, looking away. "And don't act like it was all for me. You liked doing it. Part of you wanted to—just because." Good girl. See? Psycho.

Christian's smug expression dropped, replaced by one of surprise. Even without using spirit Lissa had a startling ability to read people.

Seeing him off guard, she continued. "Attacking someone else with magic is against the rules—and that's exactly why you wanted to do it. You got a thrill out of it."

"Those rules are stupid. If we used magic as a weapon instead of just for warm and fuzzy shit, Strigoi wouldn't keep killing so many of us."

I had thought the exact same thing several times over the years. However, having heard Christian say it, it's become less of a good idea to me.

"It's wrong," she said firmly. "Magic is a gift. It's peaceful."

"Only because they say it is. You're repeating the same line we've been brainwashed into believing our whole lives." He paced the small space of the attic as Lissa tried not to notice how gracefully his body moved. "It wasn't always that way, you know. We used to fight, right along with the guardians—centuries ago. Then people started getting scared and stopped fighting. Figured it was safer to just hide. They forgot the attack spells."

"Then how did you know that one?"

He crooked a smile in her direction. "Not everyone forgot. Others are simply curious enough to discover them for themselves."

"Like your family? Like your parents?"

The smile disappeared. "You don't know anything about my parents."

His face darkened, his eyes grew hard. To most people, he might have appeared scary and intimidating, but as Lissa studied and admired his features, he suddenly seemed very, very vulnerable.

Urgh, Lissa. He's not some cute puppy you can fix up and send away. This one will hang around.

"You're right," she admitted softly, after a moment. "I don't. I'm sorry."

For the second time in this meeting, Christian looked astonished. Probably no one apologized to him that often. Hell, no one even talked to him that often. Certainly no one ever listened. Like usual, he quickly turned into his cocky self.

"Forget it." He stopped pacing and knelt in front of her so they could look each other in the eye. Feeling him so close made her hold her breath and her heart take off. A dangerous smile curled his lips and she had the urge to kiss him, but she resisted. "And really, I don't get why you of all people should act so outraged that I used 'forbidden' magic."

"Me 'of all people'? What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, insulted.

"You can play all innocent if you want but I know the truth."

"What truth is that?" She couldn't hide her uneasiness from Christian.

He leaned even closer. "That you use compulsion. All the time."

"I don't," she said immediately. Yeah, real convincing Lissa.

"Of course you do. I've been lying awake at night, trying to figure out how in the world you two were able to rent out a place and go to high school without anyone ever wanting to meet your parents. Then I figured it out. You had to be using compulsion. That's probably how you broke out of here in the first place."

"I see. You just figured it out. Without any proof what so ever."

"I've got all the proof I need, just from watching you."

"You've been watching me—spying on me—just to prove I'm using compulsion?"

He shrugged. "No. Actually, I've been watching you just because I like to. The compulsion thing was an added bonus. I saw you use it the other day to get an extension on that History assignment. And you used it on Ms. C when she –"

Oh Lissa.

"So you just assume it's compulsion? Maybe I'm just really good at convincing people." There was a defiant note in her voice as she interrupted him. Understandable considering her fear and anger, only she delivered it with a toss of her hair. She liked the idea of him knowing what she could do.

He went on, but something in his eyes told me he'd noticed the hair, that he always noticed everything about her. "People get these goofy looks on their faces when you talk to them. You're able to do it to Moroi, probably dhampirs too, now that's crazy. I didn't even know that was possible. You've got power." It was an accusation, but his tone and presence radiated the same flirtatiousness she had.

Lissa didn't know what to say. He was right. Everything he'd said was right.

And it was considered every bit as wrong as what Christian did, if not more so. Why not? It was a weapon. A powerful one, one that could be abused very easily. Moroi children had it drilled into them from an early age that compulsion was very, very wrong. No one was taught to use it, though every Moroi had the ability. Lissa had just sort of stumbled into it and, as Christian had pointed out, she could wield it over Moroi, as well as humans and dhampirs. However, it did cost her.

"What are you going to do then?" she asked. "You going to turn me in?"

He shook his head and smiled. "No. I think it's hot."

"What if I used it on you?"

"Do you think you could? Am I that easily manipulated?"

Yes! Make him forget the entire convocation! Make him stay away!

She stared, eyes widening and heart racing. "Rose thinks you're dangerous," she blurted out nervously, changing direction. She knew exactly what she wanted to make him do, and it wasn't like anything I was suggesting. "She thinks you might have killed the fox."

I didn't say that! However, the thought may have crossed my mind once or twice since his little demonstration in class. I didn't know how I felt about being dragged into this bizarre conversation though. Some people were scared of me. Maybe he was too.

Judging from the amusement in his voice when he spoke, it was clear he wasn't. "People think I'm unstable, but I tell you, Rose is ten times worse. Of course, that makes it harder for people to fuck with you, so I'm all for it." Leaning back on his heels, he finally broke the intimate space between them. "And I sure as hell didn't do that. Find out who did, though…and you better hope I get to them first. Being burnt into ash would be bad, but I'm sure what Rose has planned for them will make the bastard wish he were nothing more than a pile of soot."

His gallant offer of creepy vengeance didn't exactly reassure her…but it did thrill her a little. I also found that it hurt me when Lissa did not even speak up in my defence. I'm not that bad. "I don't want you doing anything like that. And I still don't know who did it."

He leaned back toward her and caught her wrists in his hands. He started to say something, then stopped and looked down in surprise, running his thumbs over faint, barely there scars. I expected him to react with disgust but he had a strange—for him— kindness in his face.

"You might not know who did it. But you know something. Something you aren't talking about."

She stared at him, a swirl of emotions playing in her chest. "You can't know all my secrets."

He glanced back down at her wrists and then released them, that smile of his back on his face. "No. I guess not."

A feeling of peace settled over her, a feeling I thought only I could bring. Returning to my own head and my room, I sat on the floor staring at my math book. I slammed it shut and threw it against the wall, causing small cracks to appear in the cream paint.

The anger built and built and I struggled to calm down. How dare she? She deliberately lied to me and disobeyed me when all I was trying to do was keep her safe. Did she really think that I wouldn't find out? Did she think I was that incapable? I took the darkness from her ever since I knew I could, even when it gave me matching scares to the ones on her wrists. Even as it drove me insane.

I tugged hard on my hair before placing my hands down my back as far as they could go and released the darkness as I dug my nails into the flesh and ink and dragged upwards. The pain was horrible but it distracted from the pressure in my head and the pain in my chest, satisfying the darkness in a way only destruction and blood could.

I concentrated on the pain to help lock everything back away again. It took a while but by the time I fixed up my back a little and felt somewhat normal it was time to go meet Jesse. Slipping downstairs I caught his eye when I cut through the main visiting area.

While moving past him, I paused and whispered, "There's a lounge on the fourth floor that nobody uses. Take the stairs on the other side of the bathrooms and meet me there in five minutes. The lock on the door is broken."

He complied and we found the lounge dark, dusty, and deserted. The drop in guardian numbers over the years meant a lot of the dorm stayed empty, a sad sign for Moroi society but terribly convenient right now.

He sat down on the couch, and I lay back on it, putting my feet in his lap. I was still angry even with the darkness locked away and I wanted nothing more than to forget about it for a while.

"You really here to study, or was it just an excuse?" I asked.

"No. It was real. Had to do an assignment with Meredith." The tone in his voice indicated he wasn't happy about that.

"Oooh," I teased. "Is working with a dhampir beneath your royal blood? Should I be offended?"

He smiled, showing a mouth full of perfect white teeth and fangs. "You're a lot better looking than she is."

"Glad I make the standard." There was a sort of a heat in his eyes that was turning me on, as was his hand sliding up my leg. But I needed to do something first. It was time for some vengeance. "Mia must too, since you guys let her hang out with you. She's not exactly royal."

His finger playfully poked me in the calf. "She's with Aaron. And I've got lots of friends who aren't royal. And friends who are dhampirs. I'm not a total asshole."

"Yeah, but did you know her parents are practically custodians for the Drozdovs?"

The hand on my leg stopped. I'd exaggerated, but he was a sucker for gossip—and he was notorious for spreading it.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Scrubbing floors, gardening, stuff like that."

"Huh."

I could see the wheels turning in his dark blue eyes and had to hide a smile. The seed was planted.

Sitting up, I moved closer to him and draped a leg over his lap. I wrapped my arms around him, and without further delay, thoughts of Mia disappeared as his testosterone kicked in. He kissed me eagerly pushing me against the back of the couch, and I relaxed into what had to be the first enjoyable physical activity I'd had in weeks.

"I'm not having sex," I warned him between kisses as his hand began to wander up my shirt. I had no intention of losing my virginity on a couch in a lounge. Or to Jesse, in general. He was cute, but not exactly romantic.

He paused, thinking about this, and finally decided not to push it. "Okay."

But he pushed me onto the couch, lying over me, still kissing with that same fierceness. His lips travelled down to my neck, and when the sharp points of his fangs brushed against my skin, I couldn't help an excited gasp.

He raised himself up, looking into my face with open surprise. For a moment, I could barely breathe, recalling that rush of pleasure that a vampire bite could fill me with, wondering what it'd be like to feel that while making out. Then the old taboos kicked in. Even if we didn't have sex, giving blood while we did this was still wrong, still dirty.

"Don't," I warned.

"You want to." His voice held excited wonder. "I can tell."

"No, I don't."

His eyes lit up. "You do. How—hey, have you done it before?"

"No," I scoffed."Of course not."

Those gorgeous blue eyes watched me, and I could see the wheels spinning behind them. Jesse might flirt a lot and have a big mouth, but he wasn't stupid.

"You act like you have. You got excited when I was by your neck."

"You're a good kisser," I countered, though it wasn't entirely true. "Don't you think everyone would know if I was giving blood?"

The realization seized him. "Unless you weren't doing it before you left. You did it while you were gone, didn't you? You fed Lissa."

"Of course not," I repeated.

But he was on to something, and he knew it. "It was the only way. You didn't have feeders. Oh, man."

"She found some," I lied. It was the same line we'd fed Natalie, the one she'd spread around and that no one—except Christian—had ever questioned. "Plenty of humans are into it."

"Sure," he said with a smile. He leaned his mouth back to my neck and tried pulling off my shirt.

"I'm not a blood whore," I snapped, pulling away from him.

"But you want to. You like it. All you dhampir girls do." His teeth were on my skin again. Sharp.

Wonderful.

I had a feeling hostility would only make things worse, so I defused the situation with teasing. "Stop it," I said gently, running a fingertip over his lips. "I told you, I'm not like that. But if you want something to do with your mouth, I can give you some ideas."

That peaked his interest but he still tried to get my shirt off. I couldn't let him see my tattoos.

Then again...it wasn't like he was going to be looking at my back...

I let him take it off.

And that was when the door opened and we sprang apart. I was ready to handle a fellow student or even possibly the matron. What I was not ready for was Dimitri.

He burst in the door like he'd expected to find us, and in that horrible moment, I knew why Mason had called him a god. In the blink of an eye, he crossed the room and jerked Jesse up by his shirt, nearly holding the Moroi off the ground.

"What's your name?" barked Dimitri.

"J-Jesse, sir. Jesse Zeklos, sir."

"Mr. Zeklos, do you have permission to be in this part of the dorm?"

"N-No, sir."

"Do you know the rules about male and female interactions around here?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then I suggest you get out of here as fast as you can before I turn you over to someone who will punish you accordingly. If I ever see you like this again"—Dimitri pointed to where I cowered on the couch— "I will be the one to punish you. And it will hurt. A lot. Do you understand Mr Zeklos?"

Jesses wallowed, eyes wide. None of the bravado he usually showed was there. I guess there was 'usually' and then there was being held in the grip of a really ripped, really tall, and really pissed-off Russian guy that could snap you in half like a twig. "Yes, sir!"

"Go." Dimitri released him, and, if possible, Jesse got out of there faster than Dimitri had burst in.

My mentor then turned to me, a dangerous glint in his eyes. He didn't say anything, but the angry, disapproving message came through loud and clear.

And then it shifted.

It was almost like he'd been taken by surprise, like he'd never noticed me before. Had it been any other guy, I would have said he was...checking me out. As it was, he was definitely studying me. Studying my face, my body. And I suddenly realized I was only in jeans and a bra. Even a guy like Dimitri, one who seemed so focused on duty and training and all of that, had to appreciate the sight before him. I was not vain, it is just a statement of fact. I worked hard for my body, but a lot of it was the luck of genetics.

I then noticed that a hot flush was spreading over me, and that the look in his eyes was doing more to me than Jesse's kisses had. Dimitri was quiet and distant sometimes, but he also had a dedication and an intensity that I'd never seen in any other person. I wondered how that kind of power and strength translated into…well, sex. I wondered what it'd be like for him to touch me and—shit!

What was I thinking? Was I out of my mind? Embarrassed, I covered my feelings with attitude.

"See something you like?" I ask crossing my arms across my chest.

"Get dressed."

The set of his mouth hardened, and whatever he'd just felt was gone. That fierceness sobered me up and made me forget about my own troubling reaction. I hastily pulled my shirt back on, uneasy at seeing his badass side directed so intensely at me.

"How'd you find me? You following me to make sure I don't run away again?"

"Be quiet," he snapped, leaning down so that we were at eye level. "A janitor saw you and reported it. Do you have any idea how stupid this was?"

"I know, I know, the whole probation thing, right?"

"Not just that. I'm talking about the stupidity of getting in that kind of situation in the first place."

"I get in that kind of situation all the time, Comrade. It's not a big deal." Anger replaced my fear. I didn't like being treated like a child.

"Stop calling me that. You don't know even know what you're talking about."

"Sure I do. I had to do a report on Russia and the R.S.S.R. last year."

"U.S.S.R. And it is a big deal for a Moroi to be with a dhampir girl. They like to brag."

"So?"

"So?" he looked disgusted. "So don't you have any respect? Think about Lissa. You make yourself look cheap. You live up to what a lot of people already think about dhampir girls, and it reflects back on her. And me."

"Oh, I see. Is that what this is about? Am I hurting your big, bad male pride? Are you afraid I'll ruin your badass reputation?"

"My reputation is already made, Rose. I set my standards and lived up to them long ago. What you do with yours remains to be seen." His voice hardened again. "Now get back to your room—if you can manage it without throwing yourself at someone else."

"Is that your subtle way of calling me a slut?"

"I hear the stories other students tell. I've heard stories about you."

Ouch. I wanted to yell back that it was none of his business what I did with my body, but something about the anger and disappointment on his face made me falter. I didn't know what it was.

'Disappointing' someone like Kirova was a non-event, but Dimitri?…I remembered how proud I'd felt when he praised me the last few times in our practices. Seeing that disappear from him…well, it suddenly made me feel as cheap as he'd implied I was.

Something broke inside of me. Blinking back tears, I said, "Why is it wrong to…I don't know, have fun? I'm seventeen. I should be able to enjoy it." I just wanted to escape.

"You're seventeen, and in less than a year, someone's life and death will be in your hands." His voice still sounded firm, but there was a gentleness there too. If only he knew Lissa's life was already in my hands. "If you were human or Moroi, you could have fun. You could do things other girls could."

"But you're saying I can't."

He glanced away, and his dark eyes went unfocused. He was thinking about something far away from here. "When I was seventeen, I met Ivan Zeklos. We weren't like you and Lissa, but we became friends, and he requested me as his guardian when I graduated. I made sure I was the top student in my school. I paid attention to everything in all my classes, but in the end, it wasn't enough. That's how it is in this life. One slip, one distraction…" He sighed. "And it's too late."

A lump formed in my throat as I thought about what he must have gone through. If something happened to Lissa.

"Jesse's a Zeklos," I said, suddenly realizing Dimitri had just thrown around a relative of his former friend and charge.

"I know."

"Does it bother you? Does he remind you of Ivan?"

"It doesn't matter how I feel. It doesn't matter how any of us feel and it never will."

"But it does bother you." It suddenly became very obvious to me. I could read his pain, though he clearly worked hard to hide it. "You hurt. Every day. Don't you? You miss him." Ivan's death hung over him, like his very own cloud of darkness. He just couldn't see it the way I saw mine.

Dimitri looked surprised, like he didn't want me to know that, like I'd uncovered some secret part of him. I'd always seen him as some aloof, antisocial tough guy, but maybe he kept himself apart from other people so he wouldn't get hurt if he lost them. Ivan's death had clearly left a permanent mark and I wondered if Dimitri was lonely.

The surprised look vanished, and his standard serious one returned. "It doesn't matter how I feel. They come first."

I thought about Lissa again."Yeah. They do."

A long silence fell before he spoke again.

"You told me you want to fight, to really fight. Is that still true?"

"Yes. Absolutely."

"Rose…I can teach you, but I have to believe you're dedicated. Really dedicated. I can't have you distracted by things like this." He gestured around the lounge. "Can I trust you?"

Again, I felt like crying under that gaze, under the seriousness of what he asked. I didn't get how he could have such a powerful effect on me. I'd never cared so much about what one person thought in my life. Of course I wanted to be the best for Lissa, but I knew she would never think any less of me no matter what I did, and of course my parents where a different story all together. "Yes. I promise."

"All right. I'll teach you, but I need you strong. I know you hate the running, but it really is necessary, and you have been making strides. You have no idea what Strigoi are like." My eyes twitched. "The school tries to prepare you, but until you've seen how strong they are and how fast. I can't stop the running. If you want to learn more about fighting, we need to add more training. It'll leave you with very little time to do much else and you'll be tired. A lot."

"It doesn't matter. If you tell me to do it, I'll do it." And maybe once we get to actual fighting he'll see how good I can actually be.

He studied me hard, like he was still trying to decide if he could believe me. Finally satisfied, he gave me a sharp nod.

I turn to open my door.

"We'll start tomo – What's that?"

I spin around. "What?"

"On your neck?" He reaches to lift up my hair at the same time I reach for my neck, luckily I get there first to discover that when I had thrown my shirt on it hadn't sat right and was exposing some of the tattoos that marked my flesh and no doubt the wounds I had made earlier which tore through them.

"Nothing." He looked like he was going to say something else but I quickly stepped into my room and slammed the door.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey guys,

Sorry for not updating in a really looong time. I got accepted into uni this year and with its 5 days a week, 17 week terms, it has been really hard to find the energy to write.

I have been looking back over this with the intention to at least almost finish the story while on holidays and had completely forgotten how similar I kept it to the original book. I also looked at several reviews and thought that instead of merely continuing the story that I would rewrite it – keeping the same ideas but getting rid of a lot of un-necessary stuff that was transferred from the books that I thought was important to refresh at the time.

If I don't rewrite it – the story will indeed be changing drastically (as you could tell be the last chapter) from here on out anyway.

If you would let me know if you had any suggestions or preferences on what should happen with this story I would love to hear from you.

Many thanks,

Iolanthe Ivashkov


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